Brockton: In Venatus
by nesquarx
Summary: Worm/Gamer: When you trigger, it's usually not with a good night's sleep and a letter from ROB, nor do you get turned into a mana construct without permission! What gives? - - - A Leviathan survivor immigrant in Brockton Bay is given Gamer Powers. An OC(SI) narrator, teaming up with Taylor. Contains depictions of violence, use of profanity, and extreme munchkinry.
1. Demo Disk 6-7

A/N: Welcome to my first attempt at fanfiction, paying homage to two of my favourite pieces of web fiction and comic. Chapters are short, and will update pretty fast. The initial quality of writing is not up to scratch, but it improves. If the fic can't hold you at the end of the first arc, feel free to curse me and quit.

Here's my disclaimer for the whole story. I don't own the rights to Worm or The Gamer, and am making no profit off of my silly dabbling in their multiverses. If you encounter differences from canon, consider this a mild AU.

Critique much welcome. Without further Ado, it's time for an OC SI Worm/The Gamer crossover, enjoy!

PS. if you absolutely want no spoilers, start reading from next chapter.

* * *

 **Brockton: In Venatus**

 **Demo Disc - 6.7**

 _February 7, 2011, Docks - Brockton Bay, 11:23 PM_

Lung looked around as the gangers cried out in pain, most of them dropped their weapons, some misfired and hit the ground or air, Taylor made sure they were not pointing at anybody else when her pain bugs bit. That was thoughtful of her. The gangers were swarmed soon after.

Which is when I decided to make an entrance, I closed the hole in the Instant Dimension from where I was watching, walked to a point where I'd be about a few metres in front of him, then collapsed the ID. I materialized as if from a shatter in reality, Mana Construct Armor and Mana Boost combined glowing ghostly Cherenkov Blue at the edges - apparently it's extremely impressive to look at.

Lung whipped his head back to look at me, already 8 feet tall and growing, he pretty much ignored the insects swarming him and wasted no time to throw a fireball at me. I let it hit me, Thermal Resistance wasn't at a very high level but my armor took most of it like a champ. It dropped less than a sliver of my HP, which would recover in the next few moments.

I manifested a mana construct sabre. Sadly even with relentless practice, my resolution of control on Mana Construct skill (Level 49 now) had only reached nanometer levels, still couldn't make one with the mythical monomolecular edge or exotic metamaterials as I would have liked to.

Taylor had sent me a message saying his skin was getting hotter and tougher to penetrate, so she was going after his soft tissues. I internally cringed in a moment of man-sympathy. Thankfully Gamer's Mind allowed me to ignore it and keep my full focus on the fight. I lunged forward and slashed him experimentally a few times, they left shallow gashes which Taylor immediately took advantage of, sending her biters to the exposed flesh. At that moment Lung exploded in flames.

Most of Taylor's bugs in his immediate vicinity died. It was okay, they were mostly disposable, except for the few super venomous ones she had on Lung. Oh well, not like she didn't have millions more in her inventory.

I observed him, his level had already climbed above 50, his STR and VIT were already past mine. Which was well within expectations, I only needed to be faster than him, not stronger.

My next few swings hit the scales appearing on his skin only to produce sparks, flashy but useless. I changed the material of the sword construct from steel to tungsten carbide, pumping mana into it to cover for the extra mass.

The next swing went too low, because I hadn't accounted for the extra weight. I corrected that and the next hits again left some gashes. By now I was almost starting to have trouble avoiding Lung's flailing (With the amount of martial arts skills I had amassed, his movements definitely looked like flailing), I observed him again, his status effect said Mildly Poisoned : -50 HP/s while his HP was still increasing, though sluggishly compared to his levels.

I needed more poison in him to counter his regen, and fast. Lung made a grab for my sword and I didn't have time to get it out of his reach, so I let it dissipate and absorbed most of the mana back. Then I got the mental prompt from the Gamer AI that I was waiting weeks for.

 **Mana Construct has reached Level 50 and evolved to Advanced Mana Construct  
** **You can now construct things at the atomic level.**

Booyah! I sent Taylor a message about what I was going to do, then dipped into my inventory to bring out a collection of her most poisonous bugs, most of them normal wasps with their venom sacs modified to contain all kinds of tranquilizers and paralytics that we could get our hands on. I applied Mana Boost on them as they came out, Taylor immediately took control of them and started hovering them around me, if they got too far from me, the boost would fail, and they'd probably burn too in the veritable inferno Lung was becoming. Oh well, at least my thermal resistance was leveling up nicely. HP was still stable at above 80%.

I constructed a tungsten katana, with the edge of a single row of carbon molecules, Lung roared something unintelligible and ran at me telegraphing a punch at my stomach. I let him, atomic level construction took a lot of focus and I was durable enough in full mana boost giving me +30 to STR, VIT and DEX. Besides, his current semi-draconian 15 foot frame meant he had to bend down to punch me. Bringing his upper body well within the required range.

The punch still took out a noticeable bit of my HP and dented my armour, Gamer's Mind let me ignore the spike of pain and let me focus fully on the next move. I bent forward using the reaction to the punch, swung the katana and extended the tip at the right moment to carve out his windpipe and jugular (avoiding the spine, no killing. I had a lot of skills to outright annihilate him, and quite a few to quietly subdue him, but the goal was to put on a proper show).

I sent Taylor a burst message which mostly amounted to _"Neck! Now!"_ and she immediately sent all the reinforced bugs to burrow into the gash and pour out all their venom and chemicals. Lung possibly tried to roar, but only a wheeze came out. The bugs came back out and I put them back into inventory, where they'll stay in stasis till I could refill their payload. Lung grabbed his throat, stumbled and toppled.

He fell down in the exact fashion that a 15 foot dragon-man would. His level started dropping as his status changed to Heavily Poisoned, Stunned, Drowsy : -500 HP/s, -20 WIS, -20 INT, -20 DEX. His HP started dropping quickly as his regen short circuited, thankfully his windpipe healed and his jugular stopped squirting blood, the fire sputtered out, his HP soon dropped to a sliver and his status became Unconscious. I checked his health, didn't want him to die from any toxin reactions. The HP stopped dropping at 10 and remained so as I stabilized him and used one of the unconsciousness tricks Panacea had taught me. His natural regen would take care of the rest.

I got a mental thumbs up from both Taylor and Lisa this time, she must have dealt with Oni Lee and arrived sometime during the fight, good, I wanted the rest of the Undersiders to get a nice view. Though I wondered why she didn't pepper me with her analysis during the fight, I figured she wasn't too worried or didn't want to distract.

I replayed the memory of the fight in my mind. Encoded the visual and auditory parts into computer format and transferred it into my smartphone, honestly, creating the Mana-Computer Interface skill was one of my proudest achievements.

A quick message to Taylor and she immdeiately sent me a comprehensive summary of the fight and the situation leading to it, including the kind of bugs she used and the chemicals they were treated with, which she was apparently composing during the fight - her multitasking makes her appear a stone cold monster to whoever doesn't know of it.

I edited out a few bits that revealed too much about our powers transferred it as a text file into the phone, attached both the files to a mail and sent it off to the Protectorate and PRT public mail addresses via my anonymous server.

Another message from Lisa informed me that they had moved away and were waiting at a nearby rooftop (Taylor would know which one) but I had to deal with Armsmaster first who was on his way.

Fair enough, Lung had finished shrinking, he was glowing blue as I had pushed mana into him and scanned his brain and body constantly as he was changing back, scanning was difficult for unwilling subjects as they had to be in contact and the blue glow was telltale. I pushed the scan results directly into the AI message buffer, analyzing them would distract me for hours.

I held his arms and legs together and Constructed Carbon Fibre shackles around them, I could create flawless Carbon Fibre now! I pushed a major chunk of Mana into them to make the constructs real, still needed to find a way around the mass problem, more massive the construct, more mana it needed to be constructed and much more to be turned into real matter. A problem for a later time. I could already hear the drone of the ArmsBike. I messaged Taylor to ask if she would like to join in.

A swarm of bugs appeared and coalesced into the well-endowed-7-foot-amazonian-woman-in-a-gown shape of Taylor's cape Identity, blue ghost fireflies peppered throughout the surface to give the whole structure a blue glow quite like mine, yellow-green fireflies to make the eight eyes, hair and cape, which moved as if underwater, and the omega symbol on her chest (a careful misdirection so it could be speculated that she was a case 53, but not tilted like the actual Cauldron symbol, darknet conspiracy forums help a lot.) it was very ethereally beautiful while being quite terrifying with all the buzzing and being made of insects. It was the one 'Garam' thing I approved of, when dealing with people, put on a show.

My shapeshifted avatar was no slouch in that field, 6' 5", heavily muscled, black tungsten armour with blue glowing edges, black featureless helmet ending upwards in two hornlike protrusions (I could easily see through my mana constructs). A glowing blue spiral on my chest, a light-emitting mana construct which required a measly 10MP per minute to sustain (The spiral means growth and evolution... It's not the Uzumaki Crest I swear! Fine, I'm a nerd, sue me!) Overall it was the exact mix of heroic vs villainous ambiguity that we wanted.

Till date we had avoided meeting the authorities, leaving the crime scene as soon as we knew they were coming in, and always only presenting mine or Taylor's cape personas to the gangers and thugs we subdued. We made sure to use our chosen names to call 911 and occasionally to any victims rescued, so that the community would not saddle us with stupid names.

Armsmaster appeared around the corner on his bike. I observed him.

* * *

 **Colin Wallis / Armsmaster**

 **Title: HalBeard**

 **Class: Protectorate Hero**

 **Level: 52**

 **HP: 740/740**

 **SP: 4980/5000 (parasite Shard Points)**

 **STR: 15 + 26 = 41**

 **VIT: 14 + 19 = 33**

 **DEX: 16 + 24 = 40**

 **INT: 20 + 50 = 70**

 **WIS: 17 - 10 = 7**

 **CHA: 10 - 5 = 5**

 **Desc: Colin is a man who wants to be self-reliant at all times and to excel at everything he does. He sees himself as a soldier of the good side in the war against Villains and Gangs. He has no social life to speak of.**

 **Power: Technological Efficiency (Passive). Can take tech from various sources, including other tinkers and improve them in miniaturization and efficiency. He uses this power to create ridiculously efficient technological devices which he outfits into his suits of armor or into his weapons.**

 **Status Effects: Aggressive, Socially Challenged. (power induced) -10 WIS, -5 CHA**

* * *

Okay, I had to share that title with the others later, AI, you might be a dick but you're a magnificient dick! Armsmaster parked his bike, walked briskly over to Lung, checked his vitals, shot him with a dart from his halberd. Then turned towards us and gave a curt nod.

"Swarm. Maker."

We both nodded back, Taylor's nod even simulated her flowing firefly hair jerking forward and backward, god the girl's multitasking was ridiculous! I still hadn't practised my multitasking skill well enough to use more than 5 streams during combat. And creating and manipulating mana constructs easily took up 3 streams worth of focus.

"Armsmaster. Good to know you're aware of our monikers." Taylor replied in her buzzing voice, I'd already messaged her saying that I would not be doing any talking. Even after practising my American English skill, Lisa had still told me my North Indian accent was guessable. I did not want my voice to go through whatever analysis software Armsmaster would definitely be running the recording of this meeting through. Lisa and I would still be messaging Taylor with our opinions as and when required.

"Yes. Your presence has been noticed recently. We were hoping to meet you sometime. Would you be willing to come to the protectorate HQ and give us a statement of this capture?" His tone was gruff, but professional.

"A full statement with recordings has been mailed to the protectorate. Regardless, we would like to come over in a few days to register as an independent team." Her wording of the registration did not go unnoticed.

"Not as independent heroes?" Armsmaster asked, his grip on the halberd tightening.

"We find the classifications of Hero, Villain, Vigilante and Rogue to be too blurry. After all, it's not rare to see one turn into the other at the drop of a hat. We have powers and we wish to help people, that is all." Heh, Taylor was still annoyed at the PRT for the Sophia Thing, and recent news of the upcoming Canary trial also had her pretty pissed when she learned of it.

"I see. Since you're new parahumans, it's my imperative to offer you to join the protectorate. Especially for a tinker and a case 53, our facilities are meant to help and support new capes like you. Now that you've taken down Lung, the rest of the ABB will be looking for you." Good, all our preparations had worked, he thought we were legal adults, that my armor and constructs were tinkertech (the recording+statement mail would further support that). And he was giving us the carrot and the stick all at once, I didn't have to message Taylor anything, we'd discussed this in enough detail already.

"I would like to respectfully decline. Firstly, we're not new at all. Secondly, as you might have guessed, we're not operating solo anymore. However, we're quite willing to participate in joint operations with the PRT and Protectorate."

Armsmaster was possibly expecting something like that. "Very well, I have confirmation that your statement has been received. There is a reward for capturing lung, how would you like to claim it? Also, do you have any contact information?" Then he held a hand to his helmet, possibly to show that he was conversing with someone, at least he has that much social grace.

Lisa messaged me that it was Velocity on the console informing him that all the information he asked for was already there in the mail. Thank you for the useless trivia Lisa. Lisa immediately messaged me again with the mental impression of a tongue-out gesture. Smartass.

"I see. Your contact and account information is there with the statement. Very well, unless you wish to talk about anything else, you need not wait for the PRT to arrive, I'll secure Lung. And we expect you to get in touch with us soon about the registration. We will also be sending you further protocols for contacting us and sending incident reports."

We both nodded, Swarm dispersed into insects as I dropped into an ID, with it's reality cracking effects. I poked a hole in it and watched Armsmaster look around with his mouth open. Priceless.

Taylor messaged me with the exact location of the rooftop where the undersiders were waiting. It was about half a block away, I made my way up there, opened a hole to watch, there they were, Lisa, Grue, Bitch and Regent, standing in a close semicircle, flanked by four horse-sized dog-monsters. The dogs themselves were level 30 each, that's not a small amount of firepower.

I observed them all and saved the results for later perusal. Lisa looked very hot, ahem, I mean suitably appealing in her costume. I positioned myself roughly in front of them, coordinated with Taylor, we both materialized together side by side.

Lisa seemed unfazed, the rest seemed suitably intimidated. She took up our appearance as her cue to speak.

"Swarm, Maker. Thanks a lot, we don't know how well we would have fared against Lung."

Grue seemed to snap back to reality and followed up.

"Ahem, yes, thank you. We owe you one. We're the Undersiders, this is Tattletale, I'm..."

"They know who we are." Tattletale interjected, and turned to face the rest of them, waving her arm at us in an introductory fashion, "Guys, meet our new bosses."

-x-

Yeah, well, that happened.

It's a long story, let me tell you how it all started.


	2. Installation 1-0

A/N: Welcome to my first attempt at fanfiction, paying homage to two of my favourite pieces of web fiction and comic. Chapters are short, and will update pretty fast. The initial quality of writing is terrible, but it improves. If you are annoyed with the first few chapters, please bear with me, If the fic still can't hold you at the end of the first arc, feel free to curse me and quit.

Here's my disclaimer for the whole story. I don't own the rights to Worm or The Gamer, and am making no profit off of my silly dabbling in their multiverses. If you encounter differences from canon, consider this a mild AU.

Critique much welcome. Without further Ado, it's time for an OC SI Worm/The Gamer crossover, enjoy!

* * *

 **Brockton: In Venatus**

 **Installation 1.0**

 _I was playing in the park with my cousin, as hyperactive as a 7 year old can get - while dada (that's what we call an elder brother/cousin, pronounced the-the), fresh into puberty, was trying his best to look like he was in control of the misguided missile that was me. "Aveek! don't jump from the monkey bars. Auntie will kill me if you break your legs!" I wouldn't listen, I was in a huff because no one wished me happy birthday since the morning - my life was unfairness - everybody gets wished happy birthday dammit! Hence I prepared to jump, and promptly missed my footing because of the wailing Endbringer sirens._

Ah, it's that dream again, oh well, ten years of the same dream and you kind of get used to it. Though in my family's defense they were planning a surprise party, hence it was dada's job to take me out to the park and distract me. The party I didn't get, but surprise, what a surprise.

 _Everyone was running in mindless panic, trying to climb up whatever structure they could. The sudden storm clouds and rain just added to the chaos, dada was carrying me on his back, my knee was a bit banged up, but I'd stopped crying because there was a fucking two storey tall roaring wave about a hundred metres behind us approaching in almost slow motion, on top of it rode the fucking two story taller lizardman like the water was a magic carpet - you kind of forget to cry when you see that._

Yeah yeah, bloody overgrown salamander, whose big idea was to go to Hyderabad to meet the rest of the family? Couldn't they have just come over to Calcutta like they were supposed to? Oh, wait, I insisted that we travel that year instead of dada's family. Riiight.

 _Both the wave and the monster were closing in, most others had found sturdy trees or houses to climb up by then, dada was a 13 year old carrying a 7 year old on his back, didn't much help his ground speed. I was thin though, but sadly so was he. I was still kind of processing things, screaming at him to let me down, banged up knee be damned, we could both run faster._

On hindsight, I'm still proud of myself to be able to think coherent thoughts at that point. Damn I was such a cool kid.

 _I'd almost resigned us to be swept away, and was trying to suck in as much breath as I could hold, and 'pop' appeared the guy in the black turban, black scarf covering his face and black overalls, grabbed dada's shoulder, looked up, and 'pop' we're high in the sky, nothing but the rain here, below us the city was being subsumed block by block from the flooding river. It was sort of tranquil I guess. The rain was slowing down, oh, okay the rain was not slowing down, we were falling, before I could open my mouth to let our black turban ninja man know of that factoid - 'pop' again - and now the sky is a roiling mass of clouds below us, the river and flooding nowhere to be seen, highrises hanging from the ground above, dada's scream slowly building up to a proper shriek, my highly analytical mind manages to proffer expert commentary, "We're falling up." Turban Ninja Man gave a surprised guffaw and said, "Yes we are," hand still firmly on dada's shoulder. We stopped falling up, rain splashing against our feet, it really was tranquil, even dada stopped screaming. The final 'pop' had us standing on top of the Golconda fort on a big red trampoline-cushion thingy, two rescue workers running towards us, Turban Ninja Man nodded at them, ruffled my hair and vanished with another 'pop'._

We later got to know he was a 'Thanda' mercenary called Jhapki, a line-of-sight teleporter who conserved momentum between ports. He died trying to rescue more survivors. So it goes.

 _Dada vanished, the red trampoline-cushion-thingy turned into the green backyard of the school, the running _rescue workers turned into two high-school jocks who charged at me and started kicking me with unrestrained fury, because I wouldn't let them copy from me during the physics test, one of the kicks landed solidly on my nose with a meaty crunch. Ow, pain.__

Really? Now this one? Smooth, subconscious, very smooth.

This event still has better connotations for me, though my broken nose healed forever slightly crooked, this attack was recorded on my friend's cellphone and got those two expelled. That was the start of the Nerd Watch, we all carried cellphones which would sit snug in our breast pockets, a hole cut out for the camera, constantly recording and uploading (the security on the school wifi was a joke) to a server. We managed to get quite a few bullies suspended or expelled, one of the victims was related to a surveillance tinker who gifted the Nerd Watch with low-tech (for him) glasses which did the recording and uploading riding on any carrier network that was present, also hooked us up with an anonymous server which stored all the feeds. It was even used as evidence for a sexual assault case last year, came out in the news and all that. Nasty business that one. My friend who recorded it had to go in hiding for a few days because the molester was the son of a local politician.

 _The pain dissolved, the surroundings dissolved, I wasn't even in the scene anymore, I saw a man sitting in a futuristic looking setting, his face obscured by a smiley face surrounded by spinning letters..._

 ** _"Happy Birthday Aveek! Wakey wakey, I've got gifts for you!"_**

Huh? That's not one of my usual dreams. That didn't even feel like a dream!

I woke up with a jolt, head twitching around, disorientation, disorientation, less disorientation - Ah, I'm in my new bedroom, this is our new house, in Brockton Bay, New Hampshire, USA. I'm not in India anymore. No need for panic, all is cool, I was just dreaming the usual, when the laughing man woke me up for gifts...

Uh, Righto, cool, new room, there are all my unpacked boxes, there's my new table, here's my new bed, new sheets, and the new glowing blue panel saying my HP and MP have recovered...

 **You Have Slept in your bed, your HP and MP have recovered to full,**

 **all status effects removed.**

What?

"What the Fuck?!"

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **What the Fuck?!**

 **Find out what is causing this strange blue panel thingy to appear!**

 **Success: 100 XP + Knowledge + goodies!**

 **Failure: Life of ignorance**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**


	3. Installation 1-1

**Installation 1.1**

 _December 23, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 8:03 AM  
_

"Bro? Who're you cussing at?" Dada's voice came from across the door, I just sat very still, carefully trying out mental sanity-check exercises. A soft knock on the door, all I could manage was a croaky "uhhhh". The door opened, his head poked in, mildly irritated expression smoothed out into a more sombre one when he saw my vacant expression (carefully crafted upon years of practice in not letting emotions show on face). "Nightmare again?" I nodded blankly, then noticed the blue letters floating on top of his head

 **Coolest Brother Ever**  
 **Dev SenGupta (NPC)**  
 **Lvl. 15 Financial Genius**

and managed to eloquently retort, "uhh?".

His smile was forlorn "Just because it's your birthday, I'll make the tea, you freshen up, and happy birthday!". I manage another nod, but by then my mental gears are spinning furiously, "Hey, dada, wait!"

"What?"

"Answer me honestly dada, did you recently trigger with a tinker, thinker or master power?"

"What? No! Why?"

"Have you recently met someone who meets those criteria?"

"No! Aveek, you're scaring me, what's the matter?!"

"Do you notice anything odd about our surroundings?"

He walked in, looked around carefully and shook his head.  
"Um, nothing that I can't place out of context, are you alright?"

I nodded again, It was all in my head then, "Hmm, no, I mean yes, I'm alright, something about the nightmare, I'll tell you once I'm properly awake, go make me some tea minion!"

Dada brightened up and gave a mock salute, "Sir, yes sir! Just for today you get away with that sir. And for your kind information, you're going to explain to me what this was all about, sir!"

I huffed and fell into comfortable banter "Of course, minion, I don't need to hide shit from you, except for my porn stash, who do you think you are? My parent?"

"Sir No Sir! Refined men like me have no need for your juvenile porn, Sir!" He gave me another salute, then gave me the finger and left. Blue letters were right though, coolest brother ever.

Okay, back to this mess, I'd just arrived in this country one day ago, I knew of no one with powers or motive for this to be a specific attack on my mind, unless it was part of a broader phenomenon? Grabbed phone, checked PHO, checked gaming forums, checked darknet conspiracy theory boards, no, it was all me.

Fair enough, now though my gaming addict days were thankfully over, but I'd played enough RPGs to notice the format of the blue boxes, hence I started testing my hypothesis.

I passed my hand through the boxes, they were intangible, the colour was a deep, shimmering blue, much like Cherenkov Radiation pictures that I remembered. Specifically touching the [x] on the previous HP/MP alert vanished it, some tactile feedback, more like a tingle. Hmm, so pressing the buttons worked, what about voice commands?

Looking at the quest panel, I said "I accept" and it vanished, so voice commands, yes. Next to try other possible commands.

"Settings" - nothing  
"Character" - nothing  
"Help" - nothing  
"Menu" - Yep!

 **The Gamer**  
 **Menu**

 **[Messages (1)]**  
 **[Status]**  
 **[Inventory]**  
 **[Skills]**  
 **[Party]**  
 **[Options]**

Holy Mother of... Wow, Okay, "Messages"

There was a panel with three boxes, the second and the third being the two boxes I had just dismissed, while the topmost one was still shining bright Cherenkov Blue, it just read "Happy Birthday!" with a [read message] button.

Might as well read it. With no small amount of trepidation, I tapped the read button.

And there was the Laughing Man again.

 _ **"Good man! I knew you were smart enough to start with this. So here's the deal, I'm your friendly (TransUniversal)neighbourhood ROB(Random Omnipotent Being), call me Rob. The thing is, your universe is infested with some nasty parasites which are causing wanton xenocide, so me being the good Samaritan that I am, I chose to intervene."**_

 _ **"Now you might ask ''Why can't you just get rid of the parasites Rob?' And I'd tell you, I can, of course I can, but that'd be boring right? So to avoid the greater Evil that is boredom, I chose a lucky human (that's you!) to be able to borrow some power from my Universe and take care of your pest problem by yourself! now you'll ask me 'Why this RPG shit Rob?' Well, this is a tribute to one of my colleagues who's taken it upon herself to be the caretaker of some of your parallel Earths, they call her Gaia there. Also because it's more fun this way. And you're a nerd aren't you? Would you like a power that you can't customize and tweak and munchkin the fuck out of? Would you? - On that note, if you think you've found a way to completely break the rules and get Mega OP and shit, that's not happening, because I'm a dick.**_

 _ **So anyway, I've given you this power - 'Why me Rob?' - Ah, don't interrupt me kid, you because you're one of the few people in the area who has no chance to trigger with conventional parasite powers because you're too rational and even tempered, okay? Damn impatient kids."**_

 _ **"So, where was I? Power, yes, three gifts I've given you:**_

 _ **First is The gift of Mana, which flows through your mind and body, its capacity knows no bounds.**_

 _ **Second is The Gamer AI, which runs The Gamer System, it's actually just a mana computational matrix which plugs into you and takes most informational and linguistic cues from your memories and your surroundings themselves.**_

 _ **Third, and possibly the most broken, is The Akashic Records. Fancy name eh? Actually it's just a conduit to some of my knowledge about your universe plugged into the AI, it'll dole out contextual information as and when it deems necessary, so when the AI gives quirky titles to people, that's me messin' with ya!**_

 _ **But it's all true though."**_

 _ **"So there you go, exposition done, now go have a good adventure, also, another secret motive of mine, I'm bored, would like a friend, so I can't wait till you ascend beyond your universe, see you on the other side!"**_

 _ **"Oh, oh I almost forgot, if you do nothing, humanity can still defeat one or two of these parasites, but without your help the death toll is a few billions higher, so... No pressure!"**_

...  
Holy Grandmother of-

 **QUEST COMPLETE!**

 **What the Fuck?!**  
 **Found out what is causing this strange blue panel thingy to appear!**

 **Success!**  
 **You Receive 100 XP**  
 **You Gain Knowledge about your power**  
 **Check inventory for goodies!**

Okay, deep breaths, brutally quashed the urge to whoop and dance around the bed. Billions of deaths Aveek, remember? Great, now, goodies, what goodies?

"Inventory"

A grid appeared in front of me, looking exactly like an RPG inventory would, in the first box, there was a picture of an armored apple like fruit, with the subscript:

 **Plot Armor X3**

"Is this what I think it is?" I put my hand into the box, it went in, didn't come out the other side, well within expectations, still very freaky. Something touched my finger, pulled it out, lo and behold, one tiny armored apple, blue glow from within, very sci-fi looking, the count in the inventory dropped to X2, I dismissed the inventory and sat watching and twirling the apple in my hand, thinking of a way to confirm what it did, apart from the obvious eating it.

 **SKILL CREATED!**

 **A new skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Observe: (Active) Lvl. 1 - 5.0%**  
 **A passive scan of target, cross referenced with Akashic Records:**  
 **provides information regarding target.**  
 **Depth of information increases with skill level.**

 **Cost: 3 MP per use**

Huh. Won't whoop and dance, won't whoop and dance. Dismissing the window, I looked at the apple thingy again and said "Observe". I could feel something going away from my body, a momentary diminishing of self, that was the mana I had just spent I guess. It quickly passed.

 **Plot Armor**  
 **Key Item (TransUniversal)**  
 **Quality: Epic.**

 **Feed this to an NPC to ensure they live through the story without any permanent damage.**

Oh what the heck, I calmly untangled myself from the sheets, got up in a dignified manner, smoothly checked the floor for anything that I might trip on, then whooped with joy and did a victory dance.


	4. Installation 1-2

**Installation 1.2**

 _December 23, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 8:25 AM_

Mini-celebration done, brother placated with a shouted "No worries!", I headed off to the bathroom to freshen up, stood in front of the mirror, well, I look the same old lame old me, freakishly tall (by Indian standards), skinny build (I like to call it athletic, thank you very much), wheatish complexion, acne scars pockmarking my plain face, slightly crooked nose, beady black eyes - no superpowered improvements here, or, as I suspect the nature of mana and The Gamer System, no superpowered improvements yet.

 **Critical Thinking has improved your INT by 1**

Oh hush, you flatterer, I dismissed the window, stat checking will come later, but first thing is the only noticeable difference in the mirror, no points for guessing, blue letters above my head.

 **The Gamer**  
 **Aveek SenSharma  
Lvl. 1 Shameless Nerd**

And proud of it! Anyway, ablutions finished, I went back to my room, message to self, get toiletries unpacked first.

 **From: Me**

 _ **Get toiletries unpacked first.**_

Huh, nifty, so there must be a way to give commands mentally, would need to research that later, to begin with, I decided to have a quick overview of all the menu options.

"Status"

 **Aveek SenSharma**

 **Title: The Gamer**

 **Class: Shameless Nerd**

 **Level: 1 - 100/500XP**

 **HP: 150/150 - Regen. 0.8%/s**

 **MP: 160/160 - Regen 1.2%/s**

 **STR: 7**

 **DEX: 13**

 **VIT: 8**

 **INT: 16**

 **WIS: 12**

 **CHA: 5**

 **Status Points: 0**

 **Desc: You want a description of yourself? This is an AI, not a fucking psychologist.**

Right, Rob's AI is a dick too. Anyway stats looked fair enough, 60 point build, HP/MP/Regen calcs were pretty basic, stat division matched my nature, needed to compare with others if I could find a way to. Moving on:

"Skills"

Another inventory-like window opened up, with anime-style pictures (Ha ha, very funny, dick AI) and skill names and levels in subscript, there were 4 occupied boxes, I tapped them one by one.

* * *

 **The Gamer's Mind: (Passive) Lvl. MAX - 0.0%**  
 **Your brain is part of a mana hypercomputer:**

 **Allows emotional reactions to be suppressed during need.**  
 **Lets you perceive the world as a game.**  
 **Blocks negative mental effects. (Anti master/stranger fuck yeah!)**

* * *

 **The Gamer's Body: (Passive) Lvl. MAX - 0.0%**  
 **Your body is a persistent mana construct:**

 **Allows your body to perform at peak capacity as long as you have HP.**  
 **Lets you interact with the world and evolve as a game character would.**

* * *

 **Basic Mana Capacity: (Passive) Lvl. MAX - 0.0%  
** **Mana, the energy of thoughts, the energy of creation, flows through you:**

 **Mana can do anything, you just have to figure out how.  
** **Allows you to sense, control, and manifest mana into any form of energy.**

* * *

 **Observe: (Active) Lvl. 1 - 5.0%  
** **A passive scan of target, cross referenced with Akashic Records:**

 **provides information regarding target.  
** **Depth of information increases with skill level.  
** **Cost: 3 MP per use**

* * *

Huh, so I was not me anymore, oh well, I believe in the school of thought where the me from the previous moment is not the me in the next moment, so no philosophical crisis there; but still, fuck you Rob. You ask before changing a person into a mana construct, basic bloody courtesy dammit!

Anyway, The Gamer's Mind seemed to be an amazing thinker power by itself, while The Gamer's Body was a budget brute package which could be improved into a serious brute package if I wanted. Again, if my suspicions about mana were correct (That given its extraUniversal nature, it's just bullshit reality manipulation), with time I would be able to mimic any possible power, imagination being the limit. Time being the bottlenecked resource in this case I was sure, or Rob would have given me these powers during my tete-a-tete with the overgrown water lizard. On that note, I realized that soon I might have to fight him, or the special effects minotaur, or the techie bird bitch. Sobering thought that, and yes, I could feel the effects of Gamer's Mind, specifically by the fact that I wasn't having a massive panic attack while thinking of fighting a freaking kaiju.

Well, mixed emotions aside, power experimentation will wait. Next item:

"Party"

 **Party menu to be unlocked at level 10.**

Fair enough, not that I had anyone to party with right then, dada being marked NPC, and honestly, though we were as close as siblings, our age gap would just make partying with him awkward, I'd rather give him the Plot Armor and let him be my cash cow minion that he was.

On to the final item then, I rubbed my hands in anticipation as I called it out:

"Options"

 **OPTIONS**

 **Command input methods:  
** **[✔] Vocal  
** **[✔] Touch  
** **[ _ ] Mental - Warning, unchecked thoughts might initiate commands, recommend higher INT and WIS before enabling this option.**

 **Information output methods:  
** **(✔) Visual  
** **( _ ) Mental - Warning, Too much information might strain attention span, recommend high INT before enabling this option.**

 **Skill names and Commands  
** **[ _ ] Allow adding aliases to skills and commands - Warning, may cause confusion when newer skills have same name as older aliases.**

 **Mana Manipulation AI Assist:  
** **|- 0% - Warning, accidents can annihilate galaxies. Use this if you have Godlike stats.  
** **|- 50% (current setting)  
** **|- 100% - Warning, low flexibility can make skill creation very difficult. Use this if you're a wuss.**

 **AI pseudo-personality core:  
** **(✔) AI messages take personality cue from The Gamer's subconscious - Warning, may result in snarky messages if you're a dick.  
** **( _ ) AI messages are mechanical and dry - warning, you're Armsmaster, and still a dick.**

 **Gamer's Mind AI assist  
** **[✔] Suppress emotions during combat  
** **[✔] Suppress emotion spikes out of combat  
** **[ _ ] Suppress all emotions - warning, will make your social life very interesting.**

 **Message log Archival  
** **[✔] Archive repeating messages  
** **[✔] Archive status and warning messages**

 **Avatar Options (locked until you find a way to change your body)  
** **Party Options (locked until you have a party)  
**

 **-Other options will appear with newer skills**

That was actually pretty well thought out, I didn't really need to change anything right then. And the messages were being snarky because I'm a dick. And I had researched Brockton Bay capes almost too well. Well, I didn't want to turn into Armsmaster, so I let the snarky messages stay, and I had an almost nonexistent social life anyway, no need to fuck it up with complete emotional suppression. Damn my nerd tendencies, not getting to change a single option was such a downer.

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Downers are bad for health.**

 **Reach level 10 so that you can at least change some options!**

 **Success: 20K XP + Moar Superpowers!**

 **Failure: Be pathetic.**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Heh, well that's a sentiment I could get behind. "Accept." The window vanished, it was time to go talk to my brother, I debated when to tell him the truth. Was it a good time?

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Come clean to the only person you can trust.**

 **Go tell your brother the truth and reveal your powers before he leaves for work!**

 **Success: 200 XP + Increased relationship with Dev.**

 **Failure: He finds out anyway + decreased relationship with Dev + Shame + Guilt.**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Cues from my own subconscious eh? Well, apparently my subconscious was excellent at guilt tripping me. Anyway, he's a fuckin genius, it's a sucker's bet, I tapped accept. Fuck you Rob.


	5. Installation 1-3

**Installation 1.3**

 _December 23, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 9:05 AM_

After Leviathan hit Hyderabad, dada was my pillar, the refugee camp was rough, but we endured. Once the waters receded, our house was still standing, but the people who made it a home were gone.

They did officially inform us in about a month or so, it was a foregone conclusion by then. We were officially orphans, taken in by a distant family member, who I guess now were simply eyeing the two families' worth of property that we came with. I still have nothing against them, they were cordial enough, but they weren't _Family_ family. Those two years were a blur, both dada and I poured our all into academics, he was a certified genius, blitzed through high school skipping grades like a mudskipper on steroids. I learnt later that it was during this time that he picked up his side job of managing Thanda cape finances, because he was far better at it than any certified accountant.

It was through those underworld connections that he got himself emancipated, adopted me, unfroze all our family assets, took up a house close enough to his college and my school. We've been living by ourselves since he was 15 and I was 9.

I've always been eternally grateful to the fact that he never tried to be a parent, he was always Dev dada, coolest brother ever. He'd be busy with college, I'd be busy with school, and the nearby cyber cafe, whose owner was perhaps the closest thing I had to a parent, I got to sit at any unoccupied PC and trawl the web, feeding my hungry mind, while the cyber cafe auntie often came, mothered me and fed me home cooked stuff, good times. Dada used to check their ledgers once a month, and they got to pay ultra low taxes. We'd mostly spend dinner together, me regaling him with factoids from the net, him regaling me with stories of the Thanda business shenanigans.

I'd never had much to do with the Garam heroes and villains, they simply didn't have much ties in the community, they were celebrities, celebrities with a lot of collateral damage. The Thanda had criminals, businessmen, mercenaries, all living in the shadier side of the law, but they were a part of the society. People knew them for what they did, not who they fought.

Dada left his side job when he got into an A-list business school with a scholarship and I skipped a grade and went to boarding school starting at the 9th grade. They even gave him a going away party, which he returned from extremely late in the night blushing and grinning like a teenager who'd had their first sexual encounter - he was 20. Heh, nerd.

For me boarding school was a bit tough in the beginning, getting to meet him only during my vacations, where I lived with him in his hostel till his vacations would start and we'd travel around a little. It was also a very different kind of experience, social manipulation, politics, scams, schemes, a microcosm by itself. The jocks were popular, loud, visible, while us nerds controlled information, academic excellence, and contraband... the Garam/Thanda comparison comes naturally.

Then dada aced B-school and got a cushy job in a real estate MNC, which was soon taken over by this US company called Fortress Constructions, who went through dada's resume once (And I'm sure they looked at his 'extra curriculars' more than once. I have no illusions as to which work experience caught their notice), and offered him a package which is fat by even US standards.

I myself found this house online, we both couldn't stand ultra-urban, and he couldn't afford the Captain's Hill properties, those aren't houses, those are fucking estates. Fortress Construction facilitated the purchase, and our Visas.

The Nerd Watch gave me a nice going-away present, two of our trademark spy-glasses and a proper hardened milspec smartphone tweaked by the same surveillance tinker who made the glasses connect to any carrier network, I gave them copies of my porn stash and all the backdoors I'd installed in the school computers, believe me, they came out richer.

We flew down the night before, got into the house, the majority of our luggage was shipped earlier (Fortress sure has very deep pockets). We unpacked the bare minimum, took out the battered 5-photo frame with photos of mine and his parents, and Jhapki, the cape who saved us. Lit a candle, I turned 17 and he was 23, 10 years, we will not forget. Then we went off to sleep, then I became a persistent mana construct, go figure.

Anyway, while thinking about our pasts I had already descended the steps to the living room, dada was sitting quietly with two mugs of tea, the lighter mug's handle pointed toward the seat I was supposed to take, his posture pensive, his fingers flicking through his smartphone. He had a very unassuming presence, a couple inches shorter than me, black hair and beady black eyes being the only traits we shared, he was darker, with a sturdier build and a somewhat intense face, he usually always had a half-smiling, genial expression which I could tell was currently not at 100%.

I sat down in the designated chair, took the mug of tea, raised it in a mock toast, sipped it, Tulsi (Holy Basil) with 3 tablespoons of sugar, perfect. Dada gave me one of his pointed 'I see what you did there' looks, raised his own mug and took a sip. I know this routine, this is what we use when he finds out I've been doing something illegal, his usual next words are something like 'What are your chances of getting caught?' but on this part of the script he deviated.

"How did you trigger?" His tone had no humour.

"ExtraUniversal Alien Being apparently took an interest in me." Neither did mine.

One skeptical eyebrow raise later

"How did you figure that?"

"Left me a mental letter"

"Can you reproduce it for me?"

"I can show you the real thing given some time to grow the power."

"You actually believe this."

"Sherlock's razor."

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

"Yeah, that one."

"Okay, what is the power?"

I raised 3 fingers.

"Access to an ExtraUniversal Energy source, that with time can be trained to perform arbitrary reality manipulation, exponential growth curve. Limited access to a hypercomputer AI. Access to some sort of subspace storage."

He sits for a few moment absorbing the words, I don't need to lie to him, he's my closest confidante, and he's a genius.

"ExtraUniversal as in parallel dimension?"

"No, beyond, higher dimension set altogether I guess."

"A very peculiar combination of powers"

"It follows a theme"

He made a 'go on' gesture.

"ItslikeImacharacterinanRPGgame!"

"What?!"

"Uh, ahem, the nature and growth of powers mimics that of a role playing game character"

He blinked, then cracked and let out a snicker.

"What?! It's awesome dada!"

His snicker turned into a guffaw.

"Pfah! Nerd."

"Don't you forget it, bloody intellectual elitist."

"Teenager."

"Hey! Below the belt bro! And how're you taking this so coolly?"

"Last decade of my life was spent in company of capes, teens with powers are nothing new to me. Also, three quarters of my tea is whiskey."

"Ah... Spare some for me?"

"You just turned 17, I'll bring you the good stuff for tonight."

"Coolest. Brother. Ever"

"Don't you forget it."

We sat sipping our mugs in silence, a weight I didn't know existed seemed to be off my chest.

"So... Show me a trick?"

"Huh? Oh, okay, Inventory."

I pushed the tea in an inventory box, it turned into an icon saying 'Half a mug of Tulsi tea' and I waved my arms around dramatically. Dada's eyes widened very slightly, face vacant, same emotion suppressing habits as mine. Then he broke into a grin that more suited a child than a twentysomething.

"Dude, you've got powers!" He was a genius, didn't mean he was matured.

 **QUEST COMPLETED!**

 **Come clean to the only person you can trust.**

 **Went and told your brother the truth and revealed your powers before he left for work!**

 **Success:**

 **You got 200 XP.**

 **Relationship with Dev strengthened.**

I dismissed the window and gave him my most smug grin.

"Yes, yes I have."

He stood up and raised his hands for a high five, I returned it. Then his expression turned intensely sharp again.

"Are you going to go cavorting around like the Garam capes here?"

"Protectorate and Villains? Not my thing, I'll possibly be getting into fights with the gangs here. Once I'm strong enough to have no reasonable threat from them, of course."

"Do consult me before you take any such actions? I have more experience in these matters. And give me more details about your power later."

"I'll share my notes as soon as I'm done making them. And I have more knowledge! I've done my research dada!"

"All the better to combine knowledge and experience then."

"Uh, true."

"Good, I'll sober up and go to office, there's yesterday's takeout in the fridge, you have to unpack the microwave."

"Leave all the unpacking to me, except for your room's stuff."

"Training?" His eyes narrow again, bloody smartypants.

"Yes." I grinned sheepishly.

"Good. Oh, by the way, I'm meeting the HR head of the Dockworkers' Union for dinner, he's a neighbor, and I need to negotiate a deal about some shipments coming through."

"Some of your shadier shipments?"

"If the only deals I negotiated were shady, wouldn't it create a pattern?"

"Yeah, yeah, just asking."

"Besides, as far as my research tells me, Daniel Hebert is a straight up man. Anyway, you want to come with me? Meet the neighbours?"

"And nod sagely when you discuss pay percentages and tax cuts?"

"No, he's got a daughter, goes to the same school as you've been enrolled into."

"Are you fucking setting me up?!"

"No, you pervert! Remember the talk about social interactions?"

"Yeah, okay, fine, I'll go."

"And she's barely 15. I'd rather not doom her for life by setting her up with you."

"I get it, I get it, ha fucking ha. Now get out and let me unpack, you stink of cheap booze."

"And still smell better than you." He started walking up to his room.

"I can still just get a GED and be rid of high school drama." I mumble to myself.

"Social Interaction, Assfingers! You require it! New country, new people, at least it'll be new drama!" He retorted, already halfway up the staircase.

One time. One time you forget to wash after pooping, you never live it down. I was 4 for god's sake!

"Fine fine, and I was only 4 dammit!" He's off to his room by then.

I got busy unpacking stuff in the most strenuous possible way, while mentally jotting down notes about my power.


	6. Installation 1-4

**Installation 1.4**

 _December 23, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 6:25 PM_

Lift box, move box, place box, observe box, unpack box, observe contents, place contents, collapse box, find new box... Rinse and repeat.

It was almost meditative, it did allow me to order my thoughts, go through this whole Gamer mess one clue at a time, and compile notes. Meanwhile, I got two points in strength, one point in vitality (after moving furniture non-stop for half an hour), and 3 levels in observe, whose results were reaching new heights of snark:

 **Another Packing Box**

 **Quality: Mundane.**

 **It's another packing box, 0.55 cubic metre capacity, can hold upto 90 kg without collapsing, you can use this to pack and move things.**

 **You can also use this to pack yourself and ship yourself off to oblivion so that you never ever have to observe. Another. Fucking. Packing. Box.**

I couldn't blame it, I also get very snarky when I have to repeat myself incessantly. Oh well, grinding is grinding. If only the AI would get fed up and level my skills up for free.

Talking of leveling up, I need another 200xp to get my first level up. Could I create a quest for that? Dada had already texted me that he'd come to pick me up at 7 for 'neighbourhood social interaction'. I thought hard about finishing unpacking and getting ready by then for 200xp.

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Get ready for neighbourhood social interaction**

 **Finish unpacking and get ready before Dev arrives. Remember to dress well!**

 **Success: 50 XP**

 **Failure: being nagged by Dev**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Cool, sadly it wouldn't let me control the xp gain, as that would go against the 'Rob is a dick' protocol. But at least I could level up without combat, because seriously, I wasn't getting in a fight before I was sure I could subdue multiple baseline humans without breaking a sweat. I'll have to experiment with ways of combat training, maybe I could join a dojo or something? Oh well, decisions for later. I accepted the quest and went back to grinding, I mean unpacking.

I finished well within time, dropped of all the collapsed boxes in the basement, the house was looking well, my room was all spic and span (not for long, I wasn't a very organised person at all) and I got dressed in my fashionable best - which amounted to a white turtleneck and jeans, my charisma score was not low for nothing.

While getting dressed I noticed something, my so called 'athletic' frame seemed to have some actual muscle definition beginning to show, at least it was slightly more deserving of the moniker than today morning. So stat gains showed up on the body too, does that mean if I put too many points into strength I'll hulk up? Hopefully the presence of avatar options would help me avoid that! Need to find body shaping skills soon enough.

I opened up my messages and took a look at the notes I've taken, if I couldn't soon find a way to get hard copies from AI output I was in for a lot of typing.

 ** _From: Me_**

 ** _1\. Rob's chosen appearance was that of the Laughing man. Not ominous at all._**

 ** _2\. Rob is a dick._**

 ** _3\. Rob mentioned 'the area'. Presuming it's this city._**

 ** _4\. Parasites, what are the parasites?_**

 ** _5\. Given he called conventionally triggered supers as 'parasite powers', what exactly do parasites have to do with superpowers?_**

 ** _6\. Given previous points. And the timing of all of it, there's trouble brewing in Brockton Bay._**

 ** _7\. Parasites are causing xenocide, hence 'parasite powers' are part of the problem which can apparently eradicate humanity._**

 ** _8\. Parallel dimensions are a proven thing (Haywire was a tinker, assuming 'parasite powers' in play here), so eradication of humanity would have be pan-dimensional. Parasites are at least trans-dimensional if not pan-dimensional._**

 ** _9\. Even tempered people are not prone to triggering with powers, parasites are giving powers to people who are specifically not even tempered? Only mentally unbalanced people get powers? Hero to villain ratios actually support that. Not. Ominous. At. All._**

 ** _10\. Why give powers? What do they get in return? Life force? Lulz? why would it cause xenocide?_**

 ** _11\. My powers are not from the same source as parasites, assuming Rob is not lying, my powers' source comes from higher up in the food chain. ExtraUniversal was sufficiently emphasized. While parasites were mentioned as part of the universe._**

 ** _12\. Mana is being called the energy of thoughts and creation, the options menu mentioned flexibility as crucial to developing new skills. Keeping my mind open while training with mana is a given must. Need to practice lateral thinking._**

 ** _13\. The gamer power takes subspace/pocket dimensions as a granted thing. The implication needs to be explored. Proceed with caution._**

 ** _14\. Completely jailbreaking my powers will not be allowed, but munchkining/hacking it is actually recommended._**

Though they raised many more questions than they answered, the gist of these points were not painting a pretty picture. I was unconsciously mimicking Rob's callous amusement about this mess, which is a good way to maintain sanity, but that didn't mean I should not treat everything related to this with utmost caution and seriousness. Dada's attitude seemed to make much more sense after I went through my own notes. I decided to take things a tad bit more seriously on a personal level.

 **Prudent decision making has improved your WIS by 1**

Oookay, message received. Then again, I doubt anyone else got an introduction letter, a good night's sleep and AI assistance with their trigger event, so I was on much more solid starting ground to begin messing with superpowers.

I heard the doorbell, and got my quest completion message, that was a quick 50xp, I needed to get into the habit of setting as many mental goals as possible to milk xp at these lower levels. I didn't think it would be effective at higher levels if the xp curve followed standard RPG growth.

I went downstairs, thinking hard at 'good social interaction' didn't create any quests, I guessed vague goals wouldn't work. Opened the front door, dada was parking his new motorbike near the porch, huh, his license got processed that fast? It's been one day! Who are these Fortress people? He noticed me looking at the bike.

"You want one?"

"Huh? Oh, maybe later, let me get used to the streets here first."

I locked the door and he started walking down the driveway. I looked at him and whispered "observe", merely curious what a level 4 observe gleans from a person.

* * *

 **Dev SenGupta**

 **Title: Coolest Brother Ever**

 **Class: Financial Genius**

 **Level: 15**

 **HP: 200/200**

 **Desc: Dev is a workaholic who loves to transact with huge sums of money. He's protective of his cousin and is pretty happy with his new job of covering up the shady dealings of Fortress Construction.**

 **Status effects: None**

* * *

Nothing surprising, but I realized how much potential that kind of information can hold to a stranger. I followed him down the street.

"Getting used to the streets first is actually a good idea, keeping to the right is a new experience. I almost forgot a few times" He mused.

"Your license got processed already?"

"No, Fortress got me a learner's permit fast tracked."

"What level of shady work are you doing for them that they're doing so much for you?"

"It's actually more grey than illegal, shell companies, foreign accounts, bending the law to get more profits from deals, hiding money trails that go to actual shady stuff. No direct involvement, but I assume I'm pretty valuable to whoever wants the trails hidden." He took a turn and I followed, we were just going around our own block.

I took a moment to absorb that statement, there weren't many people about, but looking at their labels I had already gleaned that most adults were between levels 8-12 and all had NPC tags, but no titles above their names. Figures dada would be at least a few levels above average, and had a title because he was close to me or something else? I turned my attention back to the conversation.

"Ah, I see, you got any leads to your illusive financial god yet?"

"Heh, not yet, but my hunch was right, the Number Man's subtle footprints are all over Fortress' account books."

"Do you think you'll get to work with him?"

"A man can hope." He said wistfully, then stopped and checked the house numbers.

"It's this one." He pointed to the next house.

We walked up to their front door and rang the bell. "Coming!" A young female voice answered. The door opened, it was the daughter I presumed, tall, pale girl, almost as tall as me, skinnier than me, wearing a baggy grey hoodie and sweatpants, she had glasses, a thin oval face and a head full of long pretty brown curls, above the head were blue letters.

 **Protagonist**  
 **Taylor Hebert  
Lvl. 5 Abuse Survivor**

"Uh, Mr. Sengupta?" She was adressing dada, but she was giving me strange looks. I was too busy looking at her title and class.

"Yes, call me Dev. You must be Taylor right? This is my brother Aveek."

Now her attention turned to me, and she was frowning at me. She had a title! She's a Protagonist?! And she was not an NPC! Why was she frowning at me? Because I was almost scowling at her. Oh, oh. Recovery mode!

"Ah, hello Taylor, sorry I was just looking at your glasses, I've been looking for frames like that, will you later point me to where you got them made?" I blurted and thrust out a hand. Dada quirked an eyebrow.

 **A borderline passable recovery has improved your CHA by 1**

Her frown softened and she shook my hand. Wow, that was actually smooth of me, shut up dick AI! Her expression remained wary though. Figures from her class, is her father beating her up or something?

"Um, sure, why don't you come in? Dad's expecting you." She turned back and led us into the house. Dada gave me another curious look. I mouthed "later"at him and we followed her into the living room. Why was she not an NPC? Why does she have a title when most others don't? Why protagonist? What abuse? I had to get to the bottom of this!

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Get to the bottom of this!**

 **Find out why Taylor is not an NPC!**

 **Success: 30K XP + ?**

 **Failure: Plot derailment! Billions of deaths!**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Okay, she's definitely plot relevant. And that quest reward tells me it doesn't have an immediate answer. I accepted it and followed her into the living room with a whispered "observe."


	7. Installation 1-5

**Installation 1.5**

 _December 23, 2010, Hebert House - Brockton Bay, 7:15 PM_

* * *

 **Taylor Hebert**

 **Title: Protagonist**

 **Class: Abuse Survivor**

 **Level: 5**

 **HP: 84/90**

 **Desc: Taylor is a smart girl with a strong core reduced to a nervous wreck by constant bullying and abuse from her ex-best friend's clique in school. She loves her mother's memory, thinks her father is already too stressed to open up to him.**

 **Status effects: Severely Depressed. -10 INT, -15 WIS**

* * *

Ah, at least that explained the abuse thing, still left a lot more questions open. She must have high int and wis to be even functioning with those stat penalties! Okay, baby steps, I've been in her shoes, somewhat at least, I still had my own friend circle of nerds for backup, while she has none. Well I can at least try to give her that.

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Befriend Taylor Hebert!**

 **Become friends with Taylor, give her a place of normalcy before school starts.**

 **Success: 5000 XP + Increased relationship with Taylor**

 **Failure: She'll be a broken shell of a person and it'll all be your fault!**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

I swear if the AI starts taking cues from dating sims I'll find Rob and I'll wring his extraUniversal neck! Anyway, I accepted that quest too, and sat down on the couch my brother had already occupied one side of. Taylor seemed kind of unsure what to do next, as a tall, lanky, balding man came out of the inner door, yep, definite family resemblance there.

 **Grieving Father**  
 **Daniel Hebert (NPC)**  
 **Lvl. 14 Dockworkers' Union Leader**

"Ah, hello, Dave, right? And you must be his brother." Dada stood up and shook hands with him. He didn't correct him, we knew everyone was going to call him Dave in this country, at least we didn't have names which are completely butchered in English.

"Yes, I'm Aveek, nice to meet you Mr. Hebert" I followed suit and shook hands with him too.

"Call me Danny, and you've already met Taylor. Good to meet you two, we haven't had new neighbors in quite a while. Settling in well?"

"Ah, yes, we just started unpacking today, still a lot to be done. We'll have to get the house in order before Aveek's school starts, we'll get too busy after that to get anything done I guess." Dada was good with small talk, I wish I had half his social grace, oh well, charisma training, how does one train charisma?

"Yes yes, let me know if you guys need anything okay? And Aveek you're starting in Winslow too, right? Which year?" Danny asked me. I saw Taylor's eyes widen in panic. Whoa boy, can of worms much?

"I had almost finished my schooling back in India, but dada - I mean Dev insisted that I start halfway through junior year here, some subjects might be different." I managed to answer.

"Good good, so what would you like to have? Tea? Coffee?"

"Tea, please." Dada said, and gave me a significant look, yes yes I knew how to be a good houseguest, I'm socially awkward, not an outcast.

"Tea, I'll help with it," I stood up. Taylor's panic seemed to rise another notch, but Danny didn't seem to notice it, I think I've found people with lower charisma scores than mine.

"You don't need to trouble yourself," Taylor stiffly interjected.

"No trouble, I insist, Aveek here is sort of a specialist with tea," dada quipped. Taylor seemed to perk up at that, still seemed nervous though.

"Oh? That's nice, Taylor is also a big fan of tea. In fact make a cup for me too, Taylor?" Danny genially pointed inside. I guessed this was quite within social norms here.

"Yes? Ah, yes, this way please." Taylor went inside, I followed her into a moderately sized kitchen, noticing that the structure of this house seemed quite similar to ours.

"What kind of tea would you like?"

"Um, what are the options?"

"I just bought some new varieties yesterday. Here have a look," she opened a cabinet and pointed to the boxes of teas, visibly brightening up as she looked at them. Interesting.

"Ah, let's see, Oolong, Green, Darjeeling, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Mint... That's a pretty respectable collection. Would you kindly put the water to boil while I decide?" It was actually a pretty good collection. And I was merely stalling for time because once the decision is made, then we'd have nothing else to talk about!

"Yes, sure, so what's your favourite tea?" Bah! Even Taylor was better at smalltalk than me! Good for me though. She busied herself with the stove.

''Um, my favourite is Tulsi tea, Holy Basil, it's milder than mint, but much more fragrant."

"That sounds nice, I'll have to look for it next time I go to the market."

"No need, I didn't know if we'd get it here, so I brought a lot. I'll give you a box, won't even make a dent in my stash."

"Uh, okay, thanks I mean." There was that nervousness again.

"Don't mention it, say, do you have any vanilla essence around the house? I can make a pretty neat brew out of what you have."

"Possibly, I'll check the fridge," she went and opened the fridge, looking up and down. I recognized the brittleness in her behaviour from my early days in boarding school, now how to broach the topic of bullying without making her panic further?

"So how is Winslow? You're in sophomore year I presume?" I ventured.

She visibly deflated. "It's... It's okay. You just need to avoid the gangs and the, uh, cliques, I guess."

Oh well, no risk no gain. "Ah, had bad experiences?"

Her eyes widened further. "Huh? No. Not much. I mean some. The usual I guess."

Okay, I could work with that. "Yeah, I also had a lot of trouble with bullies when I first joined high school. Took me a while to figure out how to deal with them. Hoping to avoid all that drama this time."

She stiffened. "Oh? How did you deal with them?"

Okay, time for a hook, strangely, as bad as I was with social interactions, that didn't take away from my ability for social manipulation. "Oh, it's a pretty interesting story, I'll tell you sometime. Did you find the vanilla?"

"Ah, yes, here it is."

The water had started to boil already, I took out three tablespoons of chamomile tea and a dash of black tea, then turned the heat off. "please pour two drops in this."

She did, interest back in body language. I put the tea in and covered it. "Now we wait for two minutes, cups, sugar and strainer?"

As she went around assembling those. I pulled out my next card.

"Say, Taylor, are you any good with English and History?"

"My mom was a professor of English." She said with some pride "Though my grades have slipped a bit." And there were the hunched shoulders again.

"I don't really believe grades to be a good marker of competency. I was asking because I'll probably have to take some remedial classes in those two, I was wondering if you can help me get them up to shape. The history I studied was more focused towards Asia than the curriculum here. English, I don't think I'm too bad with it, but it's not my native tongue, as you can guess by my accent."

She looked at me with an expression that I couldn't really place, wistfulness? Hope? "Uh, sure, I'll help with what I can, I guess?"

"Great! I'll clear it with your father about timings?" I really didn't know the social norms here, how much independence did a 15 year old girl have in studying with a boy close to her age? India was far more conservative with gender issues, and I didn't have a baseline at all.

"Huh? Yeah, that'd be good."

 **Artful social maneuvering has improved your CHA by 1**

Heh, nice, though it was obvious that charisma was raking up points only because it was the weakest stat to begin with. We finished straining and pouring the tea, it was smelling really nice. Taylor picked up the tea tray and we made our way back to the living room. Mr. Hebert and dada were quite engrossed with a sheaf of papers.

"But how will you manage to pay them with this much margin Dave? Not that I don't appreciate the extra pay, but this seems quite non-standard." Mr. Hebert was looking at dada with skeptical eyes.

"Ah, that's quite simple actually, since this shipment is part of an EB shelter construction project, Fortress has managed to route the money through FEMA grants so it's basically tax-exempt as long as it goes through non-profits, like the DWU, in fact, even after giving you that rate of pay our logistics budget remains solidly in the black. And honestly, this is the first of a number of similar shipments, we're hoping to sign the DWU for all of them and get a trustworthy consistent workforce instead of hiring a bunch of middlemen contractors who will eat half the money and then provide subpar HR. Losing us more money than saved in the process." Dada was fully in his element.

"Huh, that actually makes sense, I'm going to sign off on this, just add the safety contingency that we discussed, and if it all works out, we'll be ready to sign off on the rest of the shipments as a whole guaranteeing you the manpower you need. Oh, the tea is here, wow, what tea is this Taylor? It smells great!" Mr. Hebert mentioned, sniffing his cup. Danny, it's Danny, I have to remember that it's okay to call elders by their first names here, it's completely alien to our culture.

"That's Aveek's brew. I just followed instructions." Taylor sat down, picking up her own cup and giving the vapours a deep inhale, she sighed and her shoulders relaxed a lot, chamomile FTW!

"Told you he was a tea specialist. This one's your calming brew, right bro?" Sure dada, lay it on thick why don't you?

"Yeah. This is that one." I was never too comfortable with praise.

"Tastes great too, I mean I'm a coffee person, but I wouldn't mind one of these after coming home from work. Did you get the recipe Taylor?" Danny takes over, thank you Danny.

"I'll get it, it is nice." She seemed to be in her own little world. I Observed her and saw her status effect had become 'mildly depressed'. Ah, warms me cockles to do some good.

Conversation meandered, food was ordered, I found a moment to shoot off an Observe on Danny.

* * *

 **Daniel Hebert**

 **Title: Grieving Father**

 **Class: Dockworkers' Union Leader**

 **Level: 14**

 **HP: 178/180**

 **Desc: Daniel is a hardworking man who loves his daughter, but is still reeling from the loss of his wife two years ago. He is frustrated because he can sense something is wrong with Taylor, but doesn't know how to confront a teenage daughter. He loves the docks and hopes to improve it by reopening the Ferry.**

 **Status effects: Depressed, Tired. -2 STR, -3 DEX, -5 WIS**

* * *

That's a lot of information, I didn't really know how to help him, neither me nor dada could give him any useful tips on parenting. Meanwhile I managed to ask him about studying with Taylor, he was all for it, as long as we met when he was home, I was actually relieved hearing that, really didn't want this to turn into a dating sim.

Food was good, I didn't have much more interaction with Taylor other than random small talk, except for setting up a time and suggesting that I could help her with Computers, Maths and Sciences, she took me up on the last two, mentioning that she was doing well in computers, that was good news, I was hopeful of finding a fellow nerd. Time will tell.

We left around 9 after securing invitations for both of us to attend the Heberts' christmas party, which was apparently spontaneously organized right then, guess they were in the need of social interactions too.

We reached home, I unlocked the gates, dada went to his bike and took out a bottle from its saddle-case. I observed it.

 **Bottle of FireWhiskey**

 **A pint of Ogden's Finest... er, wrong universe, I mean Glenfiddich.**

 **Sufficient consumption merely produces inebriated status effect.**

 **And you don't even belch flames, meh.**

Now the AI was outright trolling me! What the fuck?

We went in and dada poured two shots, we did our usual silent toast and drank. It was really good stuff. Another shot and we both had inebriated status effects, it dropped int and wis quite a few points and actually increased str and vit by 1! We chatted a bit, I told him a few more details about my powers. He reminded me that we were supposed to go and get our Immigration paperwork done the next day. Eventually we headed off to our bedrooms.

I sat down on the bed, waited a bit for the status effect to dissipate, then closed my eyes and started to meditate, hoping to get a feel for my mana.

I cleared my mind the best I could, and focused on turning my awareness inward. I could actually feel, not see, but feel a mote of shimmering Cherenkov Blue, tried to touch it, and I fell.

I was inside an infinite cerulean expanse, mind boggling vastness, bigger than planets, galaxies or universes, it was a sea of concepts, raw concepts, brimming with infinite possibilities, I wasn't actually inside it as much as I was a part of it, just more solid than the rest. I had the distinct feeling from a more fluid mass around my self that trying to make sense of it all would simply dissolve my mind and dissipate it into conceptual motes, the fluid mass was shielding me from exactly that - Ah, that must be my AI assist. Seriously, even a minor chunk of this energy seemed sufficient to either form or destroy whole worlds. That was very intimidating, and I could already feel my sense of self fraying at the edges just trying to hold that thought.

I snapped out quickly, back inside my own self, but the mote was clearer now, it was more of a pinhole than a mote, and mana was constantly seeping out of it and imbuing through my body, ready to manifest at my beck and call. Wow, that was something.

I open my eyes, and there were alerts.

 **Getting int touch with your Mana has improved your INT by 2**

 **Getting int touch with your Mana has improved your WIS by 2**

* * *

 **SKILL CREATED!**

 **A new skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Meditation: (Active) Lvl. 1 - 27.5%  
** **An ancient skill which lets you introspect:**

 **+50% Mana regen during meditating.  
** **At current level meditation cuts off all external input and output.  
** **Useful while experimenting with mana at higher levels.  
** **Cost: free.**

* * *

Whoa! Serious gains, but I guessed the int and wis boosts were more of a one-time thing. Or else it'd be just too easy to lift them. Dismissing all the windows, I decided to train my int and wis as hard as I could so that I could turn on mental input and output and get rid of having to interact with and mutter at thin air, looking like a loon.

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Don't look like a loon!**

 **Get your INT and WIS up to 20 so that you can turn on your mind-AI interface without having to use your senses. Finally get rid of the rampant blue boxes!**

 **Success: 2000 XP + More flexibility with AI interaction**

 **Failure: Looking like a nutter and outing yourself at the first chance!**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Yep, that's what I'm talking about! I accepted the quest, changed into pajamas and laid down on my bed, I wasn't feeling particularly sleepy physically, but the mental fatigue of the Mana Trip was palpable. I drifted off to sleep without any effort.


	8. Installation 1-6

**Installation 1.6**

 _December 27, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 9:33 AM_

The last three days had gone by in a blur, apparently walking the bureaucratic gauntlet increases intelligence, two days of immigration paperwork combined with my habit of reading through _all_ of them and trying to understand how much the country had us by the balls, that had pushed my INT to 23. Then there was wisdom training, online games of chess and Go, reading rational fiction (it was fun, even if it didn't help), reading philosophy articles - intensely gruelling when you're not doing it as a passtime, but I got those 5 points and got my WIS upto 20 last night, so I could finally turn on the mental interfaces and get rid of the annoying blue boxes.

The mental interface was a wholly different beast, I had expected the boxes to just move from my physical field of view to my mind's eye, some of them actually did, like the observe results; likely anything that had to do with the Akashic Records just became mind-eye prompts, but rest of the alerts were more like distilled concepts injected into my conscious thoughts. Like someone else thinking at me, (trust me, feeling the AI's snark was far more cringeworthy than just reading it). Replaying my own recorded messages mentally came with all the thoughts and emotions that were there during recording! And replaying Rob's message gave me the same mindfraying sense as I got when I dipped into the source of mana, not doing that again, I value my mind thank you.

Oh well, at least now I didn't have to gawk, pantomime and mutter at the air to work the Gamer system anymore, and the menu and options seemed much more nuanced and customizable than their visual counterparts, like there were much more finer controls, advanced options. This was power user mode, it felt like I could push into them with my mind and tweak their source code if needed. There was a Macros and Scripting option now, which came with the warning that it needed a lot more INT and programming skills before I try them - It was sort of insulting, I considered myself a pretty nifty programmer.

Spamming observe constantly had pushed it to level 12, and it wasn't looking like it would get any higher if I didn't have different kinds of things to observe. Post level 10 it started giving me stats for people, and much more detailed descriptions, which I abused the hell out of at the Hebert's christmas party, we attended for only 20 minutes or so, because we had to get back to the towers of paperwork. It was overall uneventful, but I got to know a few things.

Firstly, Taylor and dada were intelligence monsters, Taylor had 24 base INT (which her depression kept debuffed to around 15 mostly), and dada is a ridiculous 37!

Secondly, everyone else apart from Taylor and me had NPC tags, and titles followed some weird rules, Danny's friends Kurt, Lacie and Alexander had titles, while their stats and descriptions were decidedly mundane (apart from strength and vitality, they were dockworkers after all). While a Retd. Col. Hendricks (Lvl. 18 Army Veteran) who was a neighbour, and had superb physical and mental stats (all stats were above 20!) despite being a senior citizen - didn't have a title. I figured it was an Akashic Records thing.

I also spent last two nights trying out different training methods: push-ups and sit-ups trained strength, doing them past fatigue trained vitality; juggling, sleight of hand, katas (I only know a few) and tap dancing (don't you judge me!) trained dexterity. Intelligence and wisdom were already my bitches now. Charisma, yeah, only thing that trained it was social interaction, I only got a few more points there at the party. And also any one kind of training, when sustained, started giving diminishing returns. But I realized I didn't need to eat or sleep, unless I needed to quickly recover hp, or get rid of pesky status effects - still felt like eating at regular intervals though, I guess the psychological part of hunger wasn't gone, just the biological dependency had vanished. And I wasn't complaining, I like eating.

Finally, I managed to squeeze three levelups from creating and completing quests for myself (attending christmas party, finding out training methods for all stats, training INT and WIS to at least 20, training all stats to at least 10, and helping with the dishes) and got some very fancy new skills (Speed Reading, Philosophy, Lying, Juggling, Dancing and Dishwashing - I kid you not), among which only lying was of any actual use, but it did confirm that my worldly knowledge and efforts could transform into mundane skills. A bit of training and Uber would be grovelling at my feet.

After I was done stroking my ego looking at my skills, I got ready to go to the market, the fridge and the kitchen were both quite bare of actual foodstuff, off I went to remedy that.

Lord's Street Market in the morning was a bustling place, lots of people, lots to observe, lots of shopping, apparently haggling was ok in the individual shops, not the departmental stores, good to know. I tried my best at bargaining, got a few measly discounts here and there, but picked up another charisma point. A bit more trial and error gave me a Negotiation skill, I started haggling with renewed gusto, within an hour, I'd leveled the skill up some and gotten some kitchen appliances at almost 30% discount! This skill thing was growing on me, I made a note to try and experiment doing various practical activities to see which developed into skills.

Once I came out of the market, I walked into a narrow side street, confirmed there were no cameras nearby, then walked into a deserted alley, and put all the bags in the inventory, they were getting cumbersome. Mental interface meant that I could manifest the inventory anywhere on my person, didn't have to be in front of me. I would make a superb thief.

Walking out of the other side of the alley, I checked the maps, the boardwalk was only about a couple kilometres from where I was. First time in the country, might as well do something touristy, I headed off towards the sea at a steady run, might as well make it a training thing.

My stamina was apparently high enough that a non-stop 2Km run didn't net me any points, I wanted to try sprinting, but it would attract eyes. The run was fine because my sweatshirt and sweatpants were passable as workout wear given the season. I got a Running skill though, which I was sure could be developed into a mover power with sufficient practice.

The boardwalk was nice, a bit more sophisticated than the average Indian beachfront (I'd gone to a lot of them while traveling with dada in a quest to conquer our hydrophobia), quite a bit more expensive too, even if I haggled here all my purchases would be overpriced. This was the first time I saw people over level 20, the security guards dotting the place all over sure looked the part. Observing them, I realized from the descriptions that the level was because of the fact that they were all armed with batons and tasers, some had knives too. So the levels I saw were sort of a threat assessment and not a general measure of their stats, because these guys only had above average physical stats and mostly average or below average mental stats. In simple words they were hired goons, and some of them with pretty nasty habits, descriptions of their favourite activities left me pretty disturbed; rape and torture being mentioned more than once. I wondered if there was any way I could get these psychos caught... aaaand I got a quest for it, with a meaty XP reward, oh well, I didn't have any ideas to act upon immediately. Would have to think upon it later.

I came upon a very neat looking cafe which was advertising some exotic teas, time for a comfort drink. I went to the counter, ordered a chrysanthemum tea and some freshly baked brownies, then sat down at a corner table, grinding Observe. So many little stories of their lives, some of them quite sad, like those two girls who were sitting near the center, they were actually quite good looking. The pretty brunette's description mentioned her whole shtick being a faked cutesy persona which she used to cling to whoever was at the top of her social circle, then using that position to string along a number of boys simultaneously. While she was nasty, the hot ginger was way worse, she actually had a sociopathic status effect which gave her a -10 wisdom debuff! Her thing was that she needed to constantly humiliate her ex-friend to feel superior, all because she was once attacked by gangers! She needed therapy, and a proper spanking (Not that kind of spanking! Mind. Gutter. Out!). Even their titles marked them as Bitch 1 and Bitch 3! The thought that I'd actually have felt attracted to these people if I didn't know their backstories was revolting.

Thankfully my expensive comfort tea arrived, I took a moment to Observe the waitress; college student, trying to make ends meet, I'd leave her a decent tip. As the waitress left my field of vision, I saw the girl standing at the counter, must've not seen her coming in. Her label had me almost choking on my drink! I Observed her immediately.

* * *

 **Sarah Livsey** alias **Lisa Wilbourn / Tattletale**

 **Title: Smartest Girl In The Room**

 **Class: Inadvertent Supervillain**

 **Level: 29**

 **HP: 210/210**

 **SP: 9.7K/10K (parasite Shard Points)**

 **STR: 10**

 **VIT: 14**

 **DEX: 31**

 **INT: 21 +100 = 121**

 **WIS: 18 -10 = 8**

 **CHA: 15**

 **Desc: Lisa triggered with parasite powers after her brother committed suicide. She loves to show off her intelligence and hates to be called stupid. After running away from home, changing her name and living on the streets, she was forcibly recruited by Coil to form the villain group Undersiders. She is currently unhappy with her lot and looking for a way to escape Coil's clutches.**

 **Power: Pericognition (Passive). Can deduce huge amounts of information from minimal cues, imagine Sherlock on MDT-48. Can cold-read people from microexpressions and body language, can guess passwords, can suss out secrets with minimal effort. Power-induced aggression makes her confront people with sensitive information to emotionally destabilize them.**

 **Status Effects: Aggressive. (power induced) -10 WIS, +100 INT**

* * *

The girl was still placing her order, she was around my age, very good looking, okay she was hot, the freckles and green eyes all the more adding to the effect. When I read her description I knew I'd end up involving myself with her somehow, she was the second person without an NPC tag, and a cape to boot! I was definitely going to help her out of her situation! And the tea was brilliant! I decided to buy some of it later. Focusing back on how to help Tattletale.

While I was busy concocting rescue fantasies (a tad bit hormonally induced, I'll admit in hindsight), she finished placing her order, then turned around to look for a seat. Her gaze sweeped past me, then turned back to focus on me, her eyes wide with surprise. At that exact moment Gamer's Mind slammed down on all my emotions, my thoughts cleared up and I suddenly had a much better grasp of the situation.

She was Tattletale, she was a 'Garam' supervillain, she had no idea who I was. She had power over one of the more successfully understated villain teams in the city. Coil, the shadiest most 'Thanda' supervillain in Brockton had power over her. Her MO was knowing and using secrets. She had just looked at me and was surprised.

She might have just realized that a complete stranger knows her too well.

She started walking towards me, and that grin was not friendly at all.

"Hi Aveek! May I join you?" She pulled out the chair in front of me.

I was in big trouble if this went wrong.

Gamer's Mind, let's see how good you are. I mentally grabbed the fine controls of the skill and got ready to play a game.

 **QUEST CREATED!**

 **Defeat Tattletale!**

 **Dominate Tattletale in verbal combat!**

 **Success: 5000 XP + Increased relationship with Lisa.**

 **Failure: She'll be your enemy! + Coil will be after you!**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**


	9. Interlude 1-Lisa

**Interlude - 1. Lisa**

 _December 27, 2010, Boardwalk Cafe - Brockton Bay, 12:21 PM_

Lisa liked to come to this little cafe on the boardwalk at least once a week. It began as a rebellious 'fuck you' to the enforcers who once used to eye her like a piece of trash, but then grew into a habit. She really loved people watching. She'd come, sit with a vanilla latte, look at people, and let her power tell their stories. So many stories, some sad, some creepy, some horrific, some merely bittersweet. If she'd be in a good mood she might go and offer a word or two of life changing revelations to someone who needed it. It was a guilty pleasure to do a little good with her power. Being a pressganged supervillain was sometimes fun, sometimes exciting, mostly fucked up, but never happy. Once in a rare while she would even find a really happy story that would vicariously make her day. Today was not looking like one of those days.

As she swept her gaze through the tables, her power supplied snippets of stories to browse through:

 _Just broken up. Looking for a rebound. Dreading a rebound. Wants to..._

 _Feeling lonely. Likes to feel lonely. Revels in feeling lonely..._

 _Texting on phone. Texting about last night. Texting about..._

 _Discussing school. Discussing torture in school. Planning a humiliating prank. Planning to..._

 _Discussing prank. Finds prank revolting. Glad it's not her. Finds prank deliciously revolting..._

 _Finds her luscious. Thinking about her. Imagining her. Imagining her n..._

 _Eating slowly. Hasn't eaten in two days. Eating slowly because doesn't have money to..._

 _Mindful of self. Mindful of own trench-coat. Wearing nothing un..._

 _Can't decide what to order. Can't decide whether to order. Can't decide..._

 _Trying to hide face. Trying to hide bruise. Bruise from wife. Wife found out he was..._

 _Loves the smell of tea. Finds her attractive. Knows her. Wants to help her. Wants to buy some of this tea..._

 _Finds this place pretentious. Wants to be pretentious. Wants to fit in..._

Wait, what? She looked back to the sweatshirt guy in the corner. He was looking at her.

 _Looking at her. Knows her. Wants to help her. Knows about her situation. _Knows a lot about her. Knows about all her...__

What the fuck?

 _Does not know anything. No discernible intentions. No discernible emotions. Emotions being suppressed. Body language neutral. No discernible external tells._

What just happened? Who was this guy?

She started walking towards him. Intimidating grin #4 plastered on her face. While pushing her power to high gear on the identity of this person.

 _Not from around here. South Asian. Indian. Came from India recently. Immigrated from India recently. Facial features somewhat familiar. Facial features bear resemblance to Dave SenGupta. Related to Dave SenGupta._

That name sounded familiar. Oh, she remembered coming across the name while leafing through Fortress Construction's new hires. Fortress had some possible shady ties to Coil's funding that she was trying to track paper trails of. But it was exceedingly hard since the last few weeks, it seemed that all trails were simply vanishing into legit ends. So she had been going through their personnel to check for fake employees and such. She pushed her power to connect the dots.

 _Related to Dave SenGupta. Cousin of Dave SenGupta. Named as next of kin in hiring documents. Name and picture in immigration documents. Picture match 95%. Name: Aveek SenSharma. No other family. Orphaned at childhood. Orphaned 10 years ago._

Okay, so she had a baseline of who he was. She was almost at the table, he was still looking at her with a completely neutral expression. How did he know her?

 _Did not know her when she came in. Did know her when she was ordering. Knew a lot when she looked at him. Does not know anything. Conscious body language suppressed. Subconscious..._

This was going nowhere, she hated her power when it started going in circles. She gave another push, was he a thinker? How did he have so much emotional control? He was harder to read than Alec!

 _Human. Not thinker. Not a parahuman. Human. Not a parahu..._

Okay okay, going in circles again, she knew if she pushed it too much now she'd get a headache. One last push. If he was human, if he was like Alec, what kind of trauma makes someone so emotionally deadened?

 _Traumatic experience in past. Orphaned 10 years ago. Orphaned in India 10 years ago. Orphaned in Hyderabad Leviathan attack 10 years ago. Saw Leviathan from up close. Saw Leviathan from less than 20 metres away. Saw Leviathan approach..._

A mild headache was already starting to build. She forcefully clamped down on her power, grateful that she'd already ordered her coffee. It'd help. She still had no idea what the guy knew. She pulled out the chair in front of him. Face still stuck in rictus grin. She opened with a curveball.

"Hi Aveek. May I join you?"

His face morphed into a bland smile. Her power supplied that it was emotionless.

"Of Course. Do I know you?"

Ah, so he was doing that routine was he? Two can play at that game.

"Don't you?" She sat down.

"You did seem familiar. But I guess I don't. How do you know me?" His words were clearly enunciated, _neutral in tonality. No emotions. No inflections. Neutral North Indian Accent._ Her power supplied. She clamped down on it harder, a headache would be a bad at this point.

"Oh, I was one of the people who processed your cousin's transfer paperwork at Fortress." She wanted to see if her lie would be caught. He blinks, waits, smile widens. _Still fake smile. Trying to fake emotions. Trying to appear normal._ Okay, that's a lot like Alec.

"I see, you're Dave's colleague?" _Knows she's not a Fortress Employee._ Dammit, he was just playing along! Time to try another bait.

"No. I'm a freelancer. I do analytics for many companies, Fortress is just one of my recent ones. Has he mentioned me? Is that how you know me?" Key to lying with a straight face, don't try to tell direct untruths.

"No, I would remember if he did. I don't think I know you." _Cares deeply for Dave. Trusts Dave. Doesn't know anything. Half truth. Technical truth. Doesn't know anything. Doesn't feel anything. Emotio..._ Okay, enough is enough. Her coffee arrived, she took it, took a sip, he was waiting patiently. She kept her eyes on him, looking for any clue. Took another deep sip. She was getting tired of her power going in circles, but she had faced this before. If you can't breach a wall, go over it. She pushed her power, he may not know anything now that his whole emotional structure is a blank. But what did he know when he saw her?

 _Knew her. Knew about her. Knew about her power. Knew about her identities. Knew about her team. Knew about her Boss. Knew about her past. Knew about Reggie. Knew about her recruitment. Wanted to help her. Wanted to get her out of Coil's grasp. Wanted to befriend her._

There! Her power may be futzing about him now, but it wasn't then. He must have powers, such ridiculous emotional blanking is not human! Why did he want to help? How could he know? Was he a trump?

 _Not trump. Not Parahuman. Is human. Not parahuman. Human. Does not have parahuman powers. May have ability to blank emotions. May have other _a̳͟b҉i̥͎̻͓̭͓̘l̬͕̘̙̓ͫͨ̓̓̈́i̻̊ͤͯ͆ͭͣť̖ͨ̓͐͌͘ī̖͂e̹̠͍ͮ̅̆͐̇͗ͬs̞͉̐_. Wanted to help. Wanted to help because he knew of her situation. Wanted to help because he did not like her being pressganged into villainy. Knew about her when he looked at her. Knew using _a̮̝̻̝͘b̏́̊҉i̧͕͖̙̱̼̮͚̒ͤl̻̤̩̠͗͛̊ͨ͢i͒ͭ̉͂̀ͯ̚t̥̤͑̀ȋ̩̱ͤ͌̏̿͛͞ȩ̥̜̬̥̞̟ͣ͆̌s̢̪̱͇̊_. Knew using _u̐ͩ͌͏̺̙̗̟̜͎n͎͙̲͎̗̳̗̿̓͂k͏̪͔͙̯͓̥͙n̛͎͍͔̺̠͖̘̋̇͗̈̚ö͚̯̪̫͔̖͡w̠͔̪̺ͧn̹̭ ͪ̄̍̎ͪa̺̜̿ͦ͆̚ḇ̈ͮ͊̆ͮ͞i̭͇͇͌ͤͅľ͎͇̮̣͔̞̀̐ͯͅȋ̫̘̘̬̯͗͐͂̑ͪ̓ṫ̙̙̦̎̚ḯ̒e̼̤͉͈͐̊̃̍̉ṣ͔̘̻͓͉̼͐́_. Has no parahuman power. Is Human. Not parahuman. Human..._

And the futzing was back, with side helping of spikes of headache. Ouch. She rubbed her temples, he was still sitting all zen with a vacant face. Then he leaned forward with fake concern.

"Are you alright Sarah?" She reeled as if slapped! How dare he!

"Don't call me that!" She hissed. "Listen Aveek, or whoever you are, enough of this game! I know you know things, I want to know how, you're not a cape. Psychics don't exit, however much I claim to be one. I want to know exactly what you know and how you know! What abilities do you have? How have you used them on me? You will tell me! You wouldn't want anything to happen to Dave don't you? He's all you have after Leviathan took away everything else! You don't know what I can do!"

She was furious! How dare he! She could destroy him with a few well placed words!

"Calm down Lisa." Again that enunciated fucking monotone. That mirthless. fucking. smile.

He was fucking toying with her! She was too enraged to even try to use her powers. Fuck! She had lost her cool! Damn! This must be how it feels to be Tattletale'd. Lesson learned. She closed her eyes and started taking deep breaths. She didn't dare speak, too afraid that her voice would break and the game would be forfeit.

"While I do know exactly what you can do. You have no idea yet, of what I can do." His smile sobered a twitch, but this time with real emotion in his face. What did that mean? Her power gushed in reply.

 _Anger. Concern. Pity. Hope. Sadness. Resignation. Knows what she can do. Knows he's immune to it. Immune to words and emotions. Not worried about Dave. Believes he can retaliate if needed. Does not wish to. Wants to help. Can destroy her. Can destroy her right now. Can destroy her in many ways. _Does not wish to._ Wants to help. Can ruin her life..._

Shitshitshitshit! She'd lost her cool, misfired all her weapons, and apparently tried to poke a hornet's nest with with a broken finger. It hurt like a bitch, but it failed. And she was glad it failed. This felt far more dangerous than her recruitment. Her cool had given her the finger and gone for a vacation. She sat stock still in terror. Her face drained of all blood, her hands up in a placating gesture.

"Please," she almost whimpered, "I just need to know." Her voice reeked of desperation "You really want to help?" She choked back a sob.

His smile returned. His emotions gone again. "Yes. Trust me." He began to pour another cup of tea.

She nodded meekly this time, then shook her head, "I can't. Not with your mind all blank like that."

He nodded. "Understandable. Let me propose a fair exchange, you answer some of my questions, and I'll answer yours. Then I'll ease up on the... mind blank. And we can have a civilized conversation, no games. Okay?"

She took a few more deep breaths, composed herself, and nodded.

"Great, firstly, please finish your coffee, would you like another?" She shook her head, gulped the rest of the latte, massaged her head a bit more. And generally calmed down.

"Now, Tell me all about Coil that you've found out."


	10. Setup 2-0

**Setup 2.0**

 _December 27, 2010, Boardwalk Cafe - Brockton Bay, 12:35 PM_

 **QUEST COMPLETED!**

 **Defeat Tattletale!**

 **Dominated Tattletale in verbal combat!**

 **Success:**

 **You got 5000 XP**

 **Relationship with Lisa strengthened.**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

* * *

 **Advanced social combat has improved your CHA by 2**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 5**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 6**

 **Lying skill has reached Lvl. 9**

 **Negotiation skill has reached Lvl. 6**

 **Through repeated use of observe and status effects during conversation, the skill Social Empathy has been created.**

 **Through repeated use of Gamer's mind to leak selected emotions and thoughts, the skill Intimidate has been created.**

That was such a power trip, I flicked through the mental messages, lots of gains. As Lisa continued to expound on Coil's suspected powers and infrastructure, a part of me was relieved that I won't have my brother's shadow employer (possibly) get on our case. Another part was simply cringing at what I had just put the girl through. It was actually pretty easy, keep an eye on her status effects, drop her old name when she's confused, drop her new name when she's enraged, then respond to her threat with a cryptic sentence and tweak Gamer's Mind to leak certain bits of my emotions and feelings into my body language - combined with thinking of creative ways to damage her by pouring all the stat points into any one stat and going after her. Worked like a charm, but I did mentally chastise myself that I effectively threatened a teenager into submission. I should not take enjoyment from that, that way lies madness - and that thought gave me a Wisdom +1. Thank you AI, you're a good replacement conscience. Talking about threatening, I gotta give dada the Plot Armor ASAP, I'd completely forgotten about it!

Meanwhile, Lisa seemed to get irritated again, "Hey! Are you even listening?" I tapped my spy-glasses, she immediately got it and continued, "Oh, so a major part of his funding is apparently coming from thin air. I suspect Fortress, but their paper trails have been squeaky clean lately. I was looking for fake employees, where I saw your cousin's dossier..." she abruptly stopped, her mind apparently made a few connections. She was looking at me with narrowed eyes, I forced a smirk.

"Wait a minute! I was only looking for fake employees as money shunts so I didn't notice! Dave SenGupta, IIMA South-Asia Rank 3. IQ 157, mathematical savant, and currently deputy chief of accounts for Fortress. He's the reason their paper trails are squeaky clean! I can't easily follow the Number Man's work, but I definitely notice it. But your cousin is _creatively_ sneaky! Dammit! I should've figured it out. Wait, shit, are you Coil's man? No, you aren't, you're independent, you have no allegiances right now other than Dave and yourself, and someone else, who else? Ouch!" she grabbed her temples again.

I raised up a hand "Stop giving yourself headaches. Get another coffee, don't try to use your power on my abilities or allegiances if you value your head." I was sure her power would short circuit if it tried to map extraUniversal influences. She sighed, nodded and got up, muttering something about stupid trumpish bullshit.

So Coil's power was some sort of probability manipulation, and he knew things he shouldn't have known, I needed to observe him somehow, would have to ask Lisa. Honestly, during my research, he was the only cape I had some respect for, didn't do the usual 'Garam' publicity, didn't leak much info about himself, quiet and competent, used proper mercs instead of thugs, used tinkertech as force multipliers, all in my good books. Sadly, the forced recruiting of a teenager was a big red flag. I'd need to observe him before I took any further decisions.

Lisa came back and sat down again, looking a bit more relaxed now. Good, I didn't want to scare her too much. "So," I asked her "You had questions? Mind you, if I say 'don't think', stop using powers immediately if you don't want your head to explode!" Ah, good, she didn't take that literally. It was hard to figure how serious I sounded without letting emotions colour my delivery.

"Got it, so how do you know me?"

"A certain ability of mine lets me glean a decent amount of information about a person when I look at them. Imagine a two paragraph summary of their whole being."

"You know you're a walking violation of the unwritten rules right?" She was visibly building up steam for a tirade, I cut her off.

"Not unless I directly use any of that information to out them or coerce them. Also, the unwritten rules are mostly superficial polite fiction. Did Coil catch you in your cape persona when he recruited you?"

She deflated a bit, "No, that was more complicated, anyway, I get your point. Second question, you're sure you're not a parahuman?"

"Not in the conventional sense. I don't think I have a corona, for starters. Don't think!"

She checked herself well. I love dealing with smart people. "Okay, no thinking on that, I've had enough headaches for a day. Finally, why do you suddenly want to help me? What are your motives?"

"That's simple, I don't like the fact that he recruited you by force. Also, I'd like you to work with me, when time comes."

"What kind of work?"

"Much less unsavoury than anything you're doing for Coil. Much more fulfilling."

"You want me to join your Hero team. No, not a Hero team, a Rogue team? Mercenary team? What? Stop messing with my power will you?" she snapped at me.

I loosened Gamer's mind a bit more and thought about my future plans.

"A team working beyond common goals? Saving the world? Saving the worlds? Saving humanity across worlds! Dude! Are you for real?" ah, well, that might have been a bit too much. I interrupted her again.

"All of it involving making lots of money and playing in the big leagues. But all that comes later. For now I just need you to focus on not letting Coil know about me. With the examples that you gave me, his power looks more like a limited precog than destiny manipulation or whatever bullshit he calls it."

"Hmm, limited precog. Information from the future, contingent upon his actions, limited to the changes due to his actions only. Argh, I can't get any more, but that's still much more than I knew yesterday, and you figured that much out without any inference powers. Huh. You're not smarter than me!"

"Actually, base intellect-wise I'm just a hair smarter than you."

"Base intellect-wise? You know exactly how much my power is boosting my intellect. You have numerical specifics of it! You were not smarter than me to begin with, you have increased your intelligence, how have-"

"Don't think!"

"Ah, thanks, good call. I get a bit carried away when my intelligence is called into question."

"Don't bother, my cousin is twice as smart as you or me without any power bullshit when it comes to raw reasoning ability, and his IQ is only 156. So we'd do well to be humble."

"yeah, yeah, you're right. Anyway, anything else you'd like to tell me oh future employer? Ah, you think of me rather as a future colleague, and oh. Oh you flatterer!" her smile was back. Ah, I might have let go of Gamer's mind altogether, stupid me. I clamped down on my embarrassment before it got too visible.

"Hey hey! No need to go all blank, it's alright, you're a gentleman Aveek. You have no idea what kinds of thoughts people have when they see a pretty face."

"I know perfectly well, I'm male, I'm 17 and I have internet."

"So you do, anyway, I noticed that you found me attractive when I first saw you. I take it as a compliment, my tolerance levels are much higher, thank you. Ah, I see, Indian culture, very different ideas about sexuality. Dude, you're such a prude! That's so sweet." She was smiling indulgently. I knew that smile, sure, tease me about being a nerd why don't you?

"No, not that! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tease you about being a nerd at all! I have all the respect for nerds! I'm quite the geek myself. I value knowledge a lot!" Man, she was scary when she was in her element, but I didn't clamp down anymore, it would only distance her.

"And yes, thank you for not mind-blanking, it's much more comfortable to talk to you like this. Also no, I can't have one sided conversations like this with everybody, I generally have to wait for people to speak if they don't know of my powers and even if they know they just get intimidated and spooked when I do this. This is so much better!" I could see what she meant.

"Yes, well, you're welcome. So anyway, back to serious topics, I've offered help. And as for right now, I can't do anything concrete, but I have some advice."

"I'm all ears."

"Okay, so, your power, apart from boosting your intellect, injects a lot of aggression into you. Next time you feel like tearing into someone with words, try to introspect with your own power to see if you'd have the same impulses without your power."

"That, that makes a scary amount of sense. Yes, all powers are geared towards conflict. Powers grow through conflict, powers collect data through conflict. My power would never lead me directly to think about this. The source of parahuman powers want to keep the collecting data bit hidden. Ow! Powers actively nudge users not to think about the source! Ow! What the fuck?! This is not you!" she was rubbing her temples again.

Wow, that was one of my questions answered! Parasites gave powers to people to collect data about their usage! That's what their gain was! That's why powers went to people who're predisposed to get into desperate situations with them! And I needed to stop Lisa before her parasite fried her brain for thinking the right things.

"Stop thinking!"

"Yeah, ouch, yeah. I get it." She took a gulp of her coffee, sporting an irritated grimace.

"I want you to practise actively not using your powers during certain times of day, don't stop using them completely, but get into the habit of not using them. Then, if you have to do some thinking about the source of powers, think while consciously not using your powers for it."

"I get it. Or my power will keep pavloving me with brain punches. Wow, this is big you know?"

"This is not half of it, stop thinking."

"Yes yes, I'm trying not to use my power for now. The headache is actually helping me not use it."

"Good, so, I guess I better get going now. My presence won't help you practice any better. Also, I need you to vow not to tell Coil about me. Not even under threat of death."

"Why specifically so? Wait, let me think. What happens if I choose to not tell him under any circumstances? He can't torture answers out of me. But he generally doesn't torture me anyway. Ah! I see, limited precog, if he has no way to get info directly from his actions, he won't get it. And I figured it out without my power! This feels so much better than the instant answers I'm used to. Aveek, I would've kissed you for this - had my power not turned me asexual." now that smile was the first genuine one I saw on her, even with the teasing bit.

"Heh, we'll have to work on that one." Wow, I just delivered that smoothly! Improved charisma points FTW! And her smile widened, down hormonal teenager! Down boy!

"So, I can get Dev to give me the civilian names of all the possible invisible backers of Fortress and collate dossiers on them. Can you sniff out Coil from among them?" I was more than sure she could.

"Possibly. I'm not sure about Fortress being the one yet. But it seems most likely. He won't be any of the visible board members, rather something like a silent partner deep inside the paperwork somewhere."

"Dev will get them. This is what he lives for. Once I can get a look at Coil, I'll have a much better idea about how to deal with him"

"Yeah, your life-story-download ability."

"Hey, yours are no less bullshit than mine. Bloody psychic. So how about we meet here in a week or so?"

"Aveek SenSharma, are you asking me out?"

"You tell me."

"Smartass. Saturday after next, 11:30. Don't be late."

I saluted, we exchanged throwaway email ids and I left. Today was shaping up to be a good day. I took up a run and continued towards home. Maybe I'd get the vitality point after a 5km run non-stop. It was a nice day, and it felt good to run.

A bit more than halfway down I did get the VIT +1 prompt. Then I got a text on my phone, took it out without stopping. A text from dada it was. It would be nice if I could figure out a way to interface the phone with my mental AI interface.

I tapped the message open, it had 3 letters. - **SOS**


	11. Setup 2-1

**Setup 2.1**

 _December 27, 2010, Brockton Bay, 1:10 PM_

I called dada immediately, no answer, expected. I recognized the message as the one we set up on each other's Panic Button app. It would be activated by a gesture on the phone screen, even if locked, dada's was the symbol Pi. The phone would turn silent immediately, begin GPS tracking and send a text. I opened the panic button app and there was dada's big blinking icon on the map, another tap and the shortest route was mapped. He was about a kilometre away, and definitely in trouble, because that was a blind lane at the edge of the E88 territory.

And I still hadn't fed him the Plot Armor! Damn! I broke into a full on sprint, and called 911.

They assured me that they'll send someone at the location in 5 minutes. I then let Gamer's Mind do its work. Analytical calm suffused me. 5 minutes might be too late, on a hunch, I let mana pour into my body much like I'd do during meditation, but with the goal to boost the body. Suddenly the world felt less real than me. I felt my speed and all my physical stats jump up considerably, and I was glowing Cherenkov Blue as MP started dropping slowly. That would not do, I took a detour into an alley, took out a bag from my inventory, wore one of my freshly bought hoodies. Pulled the hood down, pulled down my sleeves to cover my hands, covered my lower face with a dishrag bought for the kitchen - all the while sprinting. I rejoined my route, only 400m or so to go, I was going faster than the cars on the street. Thankfully it was the afternoon lull and almost no pedestrians were around. I was getting quite a few low-medium priority AI messages but I didn't have time to go through them.

I reached the lane in question and saw the problem immediately, dada was on foot, hands up in a placating gesture, flanked by two muscular white men. Mook 1 (that's what his title was, I don't remember the name), lvl 21, had a gun pointing at dada. Mook 2, lvl 13 had a knife in his hand. Both had shaved heads, Mook 1 actually had a swastika shaped patch of hair on his head! They were possibly trying to mug him because of his brown skin. The gun was thankfully pointed at his chest, that was good, I didn't expect to get time to feed him the plot armor if he got shot in the head. A part of me was having a major panic attack, thankfully that part had been told to sit and gibber in a corner of my mind, Gamer's Mind saving the day again.

I slowed down to a normal human running pace, let go of the boost and took off the dishscloth. Then not-quite-yelled, "Hey!" No need to startle the gunman, they both turned to look at me, this time I yelled, "I've already called the police! Get away!" Mook 2 ran, Mook 1, in obvious indecision, shot dada, thankfully in the heartless side of his chest. He began falling, I sprinted towards them, Mook 2 was yelling something while running away, I didn't pay heed, spy-glasses had already caught their faces hopefully well enough for later use. Mook 1 turned towards me and got 2 shots off, I felt one hit my arm, less than a quarter of my HP dropped, good enough, I was at almost point blank range by now.

Mook 1 got another shot off, panic clear on his face, it hit my shoulder, another third of HP down. No biggie, I pushed down at the gun with my left hand while hitting his elbow upwards with my right palm heel, applying the full power of 14 STR (a normal adult has around 10, though both those muscleheads had more STR than me). Something cracked, his arm bent at a very unnatural angle, a sliver of bone jut out from his inner (now outer) elbow. The gun fell, I kicked it away mid-fall, used the same motion to pivot and sprint towards dada, who'd just finished falling.

I heard the strangled warbly yell of Mook 1 and his receding footsteps, good that he was running away, Mook 2 was nowhere to be seen. I palmed a Plot Armor fruit from the inventory, gave a quick look around for street cameras, none expected, none found, just Mook 1 going around the corner, cradled hand dangling. Kneeling in front of dada, who was probably just registering that he had been shot and I was here, I grabbed his head from behind and lifted it. He opened his mouth to say something, I pushed the fruit in and closed his mouth, "Eat, right now." his eyes widened, but he complied and gulped, I observed him, his HP was almost half, still dropping slowly, but his VIT value turned from 12 to 12+?. Ah, all good.

Dada managed to croak out, "Tasted like chicken. What was that?" I replied, "Limited immortality, conserve your strength, stay awake." He gave a shaky nod.

I put pressure on the gunshot wound with one hand, seemed like it hit his right lung. With the other hand I took out my smartphone, connected to the anonymous server, opened the spy-glass feed, copied out the video from me turning off the mana boost till right before I fed dada the fruit, and had it attached to a mail, to be sent from my official account. That done, I called 911 again and told them I need an ambulance. They put me on hold for a few seconds, then told me Glory Girl was nearby with Panacea and was flying in with her. I thanked them, told them I'll get back to putting pressure on the gunshot wound, and cut the call.

Within less than a minute, Glory Girl appeared over the rooftops, carrying Panacea in her arms. Actually, no, Victoria Dallon appeared carrying Amy Dallon, they were in civvies. I observed the both of them and set the results aside to check later. They landed a few metres in front of us. I got another AI assist message which I ignored. Victoria immediately shot off, possibly in search of the mooks. Amy came at us with hurried steps and knelt down to put a hand on dada's neck. I knew her lines well from research, so I cut her off before she could ask.

"Right lung gunshot wound, you have his permission to heal him." My newly acquired social reading told me she was both impressed and irritated by that. She gave me a curt nod. I removed my hand from the wound, it had stopped oozing blood already. Amy gave a quick summary as she worked, "Bullet fractured right 4th rib at the front, broken piece embedded in lung, fragments, bullet perforated right lung through and through, and got stuck in the back 5th rib, lung partially collapsed, no major arterial damage. All fixed." She then put her hand at the entry hole and plucked the slug out, the skin of the hole reknit... neat. Dada sighed and almost drifted off to sleep with relief. She held the slug out to me and said, "This will go to the police. Let him rest a bit, will take care of the shock."

I nodded and tried to pick up the bullet from her hand. My finger touched her palm, my hand slipped from the sudden spike of pain in my arm and shoulder, which suddenly felt slick with blood. What the fuck just happened? I noticed the newer, more urgent prompt in my mind.

 **AI assist alert!**

 **TransDimensional Scan detected!**

 **TransDimensional Scan examined.**

 **Processing results archived - Panacea01**

 **Response generated.**

 **Simulating baseline human response as per anonymity protocol!**

 **Stop simulating?**

 **[STOP/Y]**

"Shit! You've been shot too! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Amy asked, grabbing my hand again, this time with irritation and exasperation. Well, I couldn't back out now, why couldn't it simulate a perfectly normal healthy body? I guess because my HP was still barely half full. I'll have to change the protocols later. I feigned a grimace and replied with a slightly tired inflection, "Didn't notice, adrenaline I guess." She shook her head again, muttered something like 'foolhardy' with more spikes of exasperation, then asked "Do I have permission to heal you?"

I had an idea, but I had to act upon it quick, last few times while meditating when I tried to sense the mana flowing through me, I got a sense of my whole body through the mana, which felt like It could go to the atomic level and beyond if I pushed the sense. It was overwhelming, so I didn't pursue it. But now that I saw that a number of processing results were sitting like files in the message archive. I diffused a tiny amount of mana through my body and looked for the blue glow, nothing, good. I started sensing through my mana, but instead of processing the sensing through my own brain I just opened a message to myself like I do and just dumped the sensing part there, the message kept on recording, my mind was clear. I'd already checked that I could record my regular sensorium and dump it as a message, it played back like a fully fleshed dream/memory. I'd check later how the mana sensing message plays like. For now I was prepared, and Amy was growing impatient.

"Hey, hey, strong man, stay with me. Do I have your permission to heal you?" I feigned a weary nod. Good, she thought I was going into shock. I kept a passive sense of her healing my simulated body, it was amazing, biomass was being created and destroyed to align things up, knit tissues, even push a bullet out of my collarbone, brilliant! I chose not to delve too deep into the sense, will check the recording of this later. Amy was rattling off her usual summary, "Cracked scapula, bullet extracted, the arm is just a flesh wound. Still, the rest of your body is very well maintained, probably the only reason you were still functioning for so long after getting shot. There, all done. Here's another one." She handed me both the bullets. My HP actually topped off!

Amy looked at me skeptically. "If you don't mind me asking, your eyes are fine. Why do you still wear glasses?"

I smiled, "Because I'm a Nerd!" She snorted.

I expounded, "thanks for the healings by the way, also, let me show you the real reason I wear glasses." I took out my phone and played the recording of me handling the mooks, probably the only brag fuel I'd have in my civilian life.

"Ouch! You were pretty brutal there!" Her words were probably admonishing, but her tone was that of admiration.

"Hey! Imagine what Victoria would do if you were shot and the shooter was firing a tinkertech cannon at her."

Her eyes widened. "The guy would be paste." She was annoyed? Ah, Glory Girl's use of excessive force is quite famous in the forums.

I nodded, "Thankfully I'm not an Alexandria lite, so I had to be content with breaking his arm."

"Breaking? You mangled his arm! I hope Vicky finds him and brings him over soon."

"He was actively, repeatedly firing a gun at me. Please don't offer him any more than first aid. You might be inclined to heal everybody, but if you heal him completely, that guy will be just broken out of prison by some Empire cape and then they'll come to our house to kill us properly next week."

She seemed dismayed. "I, I _should_ heal everybody."

"There's no should there, you offer to heal out of the goodness of your self. It's your choice, not an obligation. It's like saying Kaiser is obligated to kill non-whites."

That seemed to hit her hard. While she was contemplating it, I took a peek at her and her sister's observe results, wow, that was a nasty, nasty mess. And they're such ridiculously overpowered capes! And there's a quest too! Oh this one's gonna be long term. I'd have to take this one step at a time. First step, I dropped 3 points into charisma to push it up to a solid 15, I'd need it.

"That's, that's, you're twisting words!" She seemed further panicked. I raised my hands.

"No, no, it just sounds the same to me, think about it okay? Also, if I may ask, why do you only heal for free?"

Now she was outraged, "You're saying I should take money for healing?"

I raised my hands further, "No! Not at all, don't judge before hearing me out! You're definitely a biokinetic, a generic healing cape would have to surgically remove the bullets before applying regeneration. And the skin you created was _not_ pink and raw, it was fully matured skin. With your powers, you could do so much good! I understand that healing is close to your heart, then why don't you develop single use retroviral drugs targeted at specific diseases that die if they mutate? You could heal millions of people with terminal conditions! And you could patent those drugs to pharmaceutical companies with contracts stating they cannot overprice them. You could personally offer cosmetic services for money, while still healing for free. Also, you realize people don't value anything that they don't pay for? Most people just take you for granted with your healing. You could offer heroes physical tune-ups turning the squishy ones into at least brute 2! I realize I'm ranting, it's just that you could do so much good! Instead all you do is run yourself ragged making rounds of hospitals healing a few hundred people per week!"

I tried to pour as much frustration and persuasion in my delivery. Her moods changed dramatically between outrage, surprise, panic, confusion, realization and curiosity. The police were arriving, Victoria flying ahead of their car. I cut my diatribe short and shrugged at her.

She just stood dumbfound for a while and said, "Can you just write down the things you said? I sorta lost track at the retrovirus. What's your name by the way?" Heh, Amy, we'll make a biotinker out of you yet!

"Ah, I'm Aveek, and that's my cousin Dev, give me your email, I'll have a much more concrete set of ideas sent to you in a day or two. I think they caught the shooter, you should go check on him."

She still had my phone in her hand, I didn't take it, just tapped open an empty contact for her. She started typing in her details.

Victoria landed in front of us. I got a prompt about trans-dimensional influence detected and negated, ah, so that's what the previous prompt when she came with Amy was for.

She started animatedly talking to her sister, "Hey! Amy, you should see what that Empire thug's hand is like, it's like completely wrecked!"

Amy sighed and said, "Yes, I saw the video of it happening."

"Where? Show me!" Victoria was actually jumping with anticipation.

Amy turned towards me, I gave her a go-ahead gesture. She showed her the video.

Victoria turned to look at me, I got another aura prompt. "Hey, dude, you're badass man! You sure you're not a cape?" I feigned an adoring gaze, then a disgusted look and backpedaled.

Amy turned to her and hissed, "Vicky! Aura! And that's rude! And no he's not, I healed two gunshots in him, and he did that while being shot." The she waved her arm at me, "Vicky, meet Aveek, a man that's almost as violent as you, and not for lack of trying."

I waited till the prompt auto-archived. Then came forward, shook her hand and took my phone back, "Hello Victoria, nice to meet you. And yes, you should control yourself from mastering people like that." Her look turned immediately stormy.

"It's not mastering. It's classified as a shaker effect. And you weren't much affected by it, were you?" She's guarded as she says it almost by rote.

"I'm always very suspicious when my mind tells me to do things that I wouldn't otherwise. And the classification may be whatever, making people do things they wouldn't is called mastering people. Your aura is producing endorphins in people's brains, It's a wonder no one is addicted due to overexposure yet!" Vicky's face was stony. Amy was as stiff as a statue, her jaw slightly open.

Amy recovered first. "Don't bicker you two, both of you are too violent for your own good. Aveek, you should wake your cousin. You two need to give your statements." Then she walked away towards the police van. Clearly lost in thoughts.

The officers were coming over to take the statements, oh, I knew that guy. He was the one who came to our house for police verification of proof of residence. Nice fellow. I gave a parting shot to Victoria before approaching the officers. "Anyway, she's right, I just get worked up when I think my thoughts are being controlled by someone. I'm sorry, look at me rambling, you guys are an established Hero team, you must have taken care of these problems already, some tinkertech in your official costume to control your aura possibly. Anyway, big fan of both of your work! Thanks for the help!" I waved and walked away nodding at myself. Hopefully all the seeds sown will bloom without too much conflict.

Dada was woken, he was well rested and felt like a million bucks apparently, I'd read that a Panacea healing does that to you. The statements were given. Amy apparently gave the thug only basic first aid, set the bone and didn't heal the break, before leaving she told me to also mail her about Vicky's aura addiction theory and possible countermeasures, 'it might not apply, but it's an interesting hypothesis to consider' she said.

We went to the police station, submitted the paperwork, submitted the video evidence, got quite a few pats on my back for my 'stone cold composure' - pff, if only they knew. I didn't completely release Gamer's Mind till we'd reached home, gotten in and locked the door. At which point I let go of Gamer's Mind completely, removed all the emotional suppresion, grabbed dada and broke down into sobs of apology. I'd almost gotten him killed just because I got excited and forgot about the Plot Armors.

After some awkwardly extended man-hugs. I switched the basic emotional control on and made some tea for the both of us, didn't try to start any conversations because we were both still reeling from all that happened. Just generally enjoyed a peaceful moment, today was a tad bit too eventful.

I finally got some time to run through all the unarchived AI messages and windows I skipped through after I got the SOS.

 **Quest Created: Save Dev!**

 **By performing a repeated action, the skill Sprinting is created!**

 **By performing a special action, the skill Mana Boost is created!**

 **Sprinting skill has reached Lvl. 2**

 **Sprinting skill has reached Lvl. 3**

 **Sprinting skill has reached Lvl. 4**

 **Mana Boost skill has reached Lvl. 2**

 **Mana Boost skill has reached Lvl. 3**

 **Mook deterred verbally : +400XP**

 **By taking a specific kind of damage, the skill Kinetic Resistance is created!**

 **Kinetic Resistance skill has reached Lvl. 4**

 **By performing a repeated action, the skill Unarmed Combat is created!**

 **Quest Completed: Save Dev! : +8000XP**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 7**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 8**

 **TransDimensional influence Detected!**

 **TransDimensional influence Examined!**

 **Processing results archived - GloryGirl01**

 **TransDimensional influence Negated! - GloryGirl01**

* * *

 **Amelia Claire Lavere alias Amy Dallon / Panacea**

 **Title: The Woobie**

 **Class: New Wave Hero**

 **Level: 38**

 **HP: 250/250**

 **SP: 79.99T/80T**

 **STR: 6**

 **VIT: 12**

 **DEX: 11**

 **INT: 14 + 30 = 44**

 **WIS: 14 - 10 = 4**

 **CHA: 7**

 **Desc: Amy's goal in life is to not turn into a villain. To prove it to herself and her adoptive mother, her only pastime activity is going to hospitals and healing people, which she doesn't enjoy. She is afraid to use her powers creatively and even more afraid to affect brains. She is also addicted to Glory Girl's aura due to long term exposure and thinks she's in love with her sister.**

 **Parasite Shard Power: Biokinesis. Her power allows to shape and manipulate living or dead organic matter according to her will, it also comes with advanced biological knowledge that allows her to shape biology to desired effect. Her power is making her depressed because she's not using it creatively.**

 **Status effects: Agression (power induced), Depressed (power induced), Depressed, Addicted (master power induced). WIS -10, INT +30**

* * *

 **Victoria Dallon / Glory Girl**

 **Title: Collateral Damage Barbie**

 **Class: New Wave Hero**

 **Level: 54**

 **HP: 230/230 + 1000**

 **SP: 5000/10000**

 **STR: 11 + 70 = 81**

 **VIT: 12 + 50 = 62**

 **DEX: 11 + 15 = 25**

 **INT: 15**

 **WIS: 13 - 10 = 3**

 **CHA: 12 + 20 = 34**

 **Desc: Victoria's identity revolves around being a hero powerful enough to be called the next Alexandria. Also her aura makes people around her very suggestible. Those combined make her very prideful and somewhat callous. She's known to use excessive force and often severely injures baseline human thugs.**

 **Parasite Shard Power: Force Field. A force-field that manifests a few millimetres from her skin, allows her super strength, flight and nigh invulnerability. The field drops every time it catches a sufficient impact and takes time to recharge (generally 1-2s) harder the impact, longer the recharge.**

 **Parasite Shard Power: Fear/Adoration Aura. An aura that effects everyone around her in the range of 4m and generates Endorphins if they're friendly to her, or Adrenalin+stress hormones if they're hostile to her. She can consciously focus to suppress the aura but not turn it completely off. Empathy-related power users are immune to this aura.**

 **Status effects: Agression (power induced). WIS -10, STR +70, VIT +50, DEX +15, CHA +20**

* * *

 **TransDimensional Scan detected!**

 **TransDimensional Scan examined.**

 **Processing results archived - Panacea01**

 **Response generated.**

 **By performing a special action, the skill Mana Scan is created!**

 **Mana Scan results archived - Panacea02**

 **Quest Created: Save The Woobie and The Barbie from themselves!**

 **Stat points allocated CHA + 3**

 **TransDimensional influence Negated! - GloryGirl01**

 **TransDimensional influence Negated! - GloryGirl01**

 **TransDimensional influence Negated! - GloryGirl01**

It was then that I realized, the Dallons were not NPC's either! Did being a cape make one a PC? But that didn't fit Taylor! Ugh, Insufficient data. Speaking about Taylor, I have to go to her in the evening for our first Tutoring Session...

How many troubled teenage girls would I have to deal with in one goddamn day?!


	12. Setup 2-2

**Setup 2.2**

 _December 27, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 2:15 PM_

After two more cups of tea, we both felt a little better. So I finally asked, "How did you get there to begin with? And why on foot?"

He sighed, "I generally check the maps y'know. I'd gone out to buy a good shaving kit, with bells and whistles, with a proper straight razor and not the crummy disposable ones."

I let out a huff and shook my head, dada was obsessed with shaving equipment, and would try out new products, beard and moustache styles every now and then. He was clean shaven last few days to just avoid immigration hassles I presumed.

"Why didn't you go to Lord's market?"

"Hey, I just figured I'd walk around the neighbourhood and see what shops and stores are here, it's bloody midday! I didn't realize I was in Empire territory till I saw the baldies! Then it was too late. I'm not used to this kind of racial hatred y'know. I thought it'd be a straight up mugging, I'd give them the wallet and ask to keep my IDs. I sent you the SOS when they made me walk into the blind alley."

"Yeah, but you should have been a bit more careful, we did our research dada."

"Yes, but my research was more about the money movement in the upper and middle echelons of these gangs, haven't gone around studying their microeconomics yet." He raised a hand to stop me before I could say anything, "I know, I know, the world is not all about just economics, but you've to agree that most of it is. Anyway, y'know, they probably wouldn't have shot me if you hadn't made them panic."

"Yeah, they'd probably just have beaten you black and blue or kidnapped you. That'd have been so much nicer."

"Hey hey, I'm not dissing your heroics, the policemen were going all gaga about your video. You're not going to put it up online for kicks or anything are you?"

I gave him a blank stare.

"Okay, just checking if your power has made you dumb or not, some powers do that y'know?"

"Mine can actually make me smarter and wiser. And thank my power you're currently functionally immortal."

"Yeah, your blue chickenfrut. What's the deal with that anyway?"

"It's called a plot armor, apparently it can ensure an NPC survives the story without permanent damage."

"Heh, your power is a bigger nerd than you, it takes this RPG shit very seriously doesn't it?"

I shrugged.

"So I can go around doing anything with impunity?"

"I guess not, getting captured, beaten up and tortured, as long as you'll heal even with extended therapy - wouldn't count as permanent damage."

"Good to know. So you can give this immortality fruit to anyone? Have you eaten one?"

"No and no, It works only on NPCs remember? And I have only three, no, two of them left. They were apparently my birthday gift from the Alien."

"Right, right. And what was the blue glowing dash thingy you were doing? You're a speedster now?"

"No, it's a new power, it just boosts my physical stats; strength, dexterity and vitality, need to do more research and training to know what exactly it does."

"Hmm, well, research is good."

"Yeah, hey, I met a pretty nice girl today."

"Bro, you're fast! Should I start making wedding arrangements?" His eyebrows were waggling.

"Shut up. It's nothing like that. By the way, what do you know about Fortress' invisible backers?"

His gaze narrowed immediately. "Let me guess, the girl you met has villain ties?"

I nodded, his sherlocking didn't even surprise me anymore. "Yes, and I think I have an idea where the money trails you're covering up are going."

He nodded, "Hmm, is that information got any involvement with thinker powers?"

"Yes, possibly a limited precog. You see-"

He raised his hand again, "don't tell me anything else. I'll have to interact with Fortress bigwigs in the office quite often, they know I know they have shady offshoots, but I'm sure they know I don't exactly know what, and I'm paid not to know. I don't want to be vanished for knowing too much. Are you planning to do something about it once your cape persona is active?"

I nodded again, he continued, hand still up, "in that case, if you need any help from me, ask me only indirect questions, don't discuss your plans with me, don't tell me why you want any info. This is very dangerous territory, you're almost an adult, I'm trusting you to maintain strict OPSEC until you're 100% sure all thinkers involved with Fortress are neutralized. And I'm discounting Number Man from that, I know he deals with Fortress as only one of the many corporations his clients have links to. Also, don't try to mess with the Number Man, we'll both vanish if you try that."

I was impressed, guess this is what a decade of Thanda experience does to you. I nodded again, then worded my request very carefully, "I just want the civilian names of all the not-so visible backers of Fortress construction. For research purposes. My project is not due till at least a week."

He gave a satisfied nod. "Sure, I can help you with your project. I'll write them down on a piece of paper that should not exist once you've seen it. Give me around 3 days."

"Got it. Thanks."

"Once again, this is serious shit, I know you've dabbled in the wrong side of the law, but this is way deeper than you're used to."

I nodded again. I've learnt my lesson today. I need to prioritize my to-dos very carefully.

"Good, now I'm off to work, I'll be in my room, your turn to make lunch today."

I saluted him and went off to the kitchen, time to turn this into a real kitchen.

...

Lunch was a simple chicken curry and rice. While cooking I tried to open the process results of Glory Girl's aura, got a warning saying I need a lot more focus, knowledge skills and a higher int to be able to analyze it. The scan results of Panacea's healing I could open and play like a memory, but trying to delve too deep into the tissue reconstruction again told me I needed more focus and biology skills. By focus I presumed it meant I'd have to go into meditation. For the skills, more study, I guess. I'd used Mana Scan on a fork, it glowed blue while scanning. The results of that scan I could easily read, again, unless I went down to atomic levels, then it asked for focus. That resulting file also showed up as a blueprint, which implied the existence of crafting skills, I'd have do some proper experimentation with Mana later in the night.

I also had Mana Boost running throughout, it stopped dropping MP as soon as it reached level 5, as the MP cost matched my regen. I checked my status with the boost on to stroke my ego a bit.

* * *

 **Aveek SenSharma**

 **Title: The Gamer**

 **Class: Shameless Nerd**

 **Level: 8 - 16200/18000XP**

 **HP: 610/610 - Regen. 3.2%/s**

 **MP: 403/460 - Regen 2.1%/s**

 **STR: 14 + 15 = 29**

 **VIT: 17 + 15 = 32**

 **DEX: 15 + 15 = 30**

 **INT: 23**

 **WIS: 21**

 **CHA: 15**

 **Status Points: 32**

 **Desc: You are a narcissist, and a snarcissist. You forget things that might get someone killed.**

 **Status effects: Boosted. STR +15, VIT +15, DEX +15**

* * *

Sure, rub it in why won't you? But the physicals looked really nice with the boost, if only I could get rid of the glow, the skill still didn't have any fine controls, would need to check at higher levels.

I set the table and called dada for lunch, he didn't even bat an eyelid at my glowing. He was hip and cool like Kakashi (I'd been reading Aleph manga, for Mana usage ideas obviously). After lunch he asked, "so how strong exactly are you while boosting?"

I got up, picked up a chair and spun it, balancing it on my fingertip (I had not practiced that, no sir, not at all).

He just raised one eyebrow, "Huh." Then got up to wash his hands... Very Kakashi.

I put the chair down when I realized I looked like an irradiated circus act with no one watching. Then went up to my room, took my reading tablet, checked that it had all my old school coursebooks (I'd stopped using physical books since grade 7, saved me a lot of money, all the folks in the Nerd Watch did it too, except for a few girls who 'liked the smell of fresh books' apparently). Called Taylor's house to check if we were on for today, Danny picked up and confirmed it. then hollered at dada that I was going over to Taylor's to study, he just replied with something about not making the girlfriend jealous which I chose to graciously ignore. I dropped the boost and went out.

Danny got the door and let me in. We both sat in the living room as he called for Taylor, I started some idle chitchat about his work (thank you charisma points). Taylor soon came in carrying a tray of tea, I smelled Tulsi, I'd given her a box when we'd come to their christmas party. That was nice of her.

"Ah, this smells great. Thanks Taylor."

"I like this a lot too, I'll really have to look for this in the market now."

"Well, let me know when you find it, I'll be on the lookout too, till then, my supply is yours."

"Thanks, I'll go get the books."

"You kids do your studying, I'll be in my room, thanks for the tea again Aveek, Taylor really likes it."

"My pleasure, sir." So I was still uncomfortable calling elders by their first name, sue me.

Danny went back in, Taylor soon arrived with an armload of books, I opened my old school's World History textbook on my tablet.

I suggested we start off with an impromptu quiz of World history, she agreed, we were at it for an hour, it was fun. I'd noticed my ability to recall obscure factoids had increased a lot, guess the high INT did amount to something. We got to know a lot about the differences in Indian and American history education. Her knowledge of European and South American history was better, my knowledge of Asian history was much more detailed. Except for English history - both of our countries being ex-colonies.

She remarked on my tablet, "You do all your reading from there?"

"Yes, saved me a lot of money in school years. Money and shoulder-ache, a light schoolbag is a boon. You should try it too, these tablets are cheap, and all books are available online for free."

"Yeah, and nobody can ruin your books." My social radar hinted at resentment and irritation.

"Don't tell me, bullies?"

She sighed, "yeah. Actually, if you're placed in my class for world history, ignore me okay? In fact just ignore me in school. I don't want you to become a target too."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I didn't tell you how I handled bullies in my school did I?"

She shook her head, "No, how?"

I took out my phone, opened the live stream to the spy-glasses and gave it to her, then I turned my head all around the room.

She took the phone and looked bewildered for a while, "This is... How? Your glasses!"

I gave a truimphant nod, "uploads everything to an anonymous online server, the bullies tried taking them away once, it was even more evidence against them. The school authorities tried protesting them initially, but once they saw the severity of the acts, they had to relent."

She was looking very hopeful, then suddenly her shoulders slumped again, "they must be very expensive."

I shrugged, "possibly, we didn't start out using glasses..." I told her the whole story of the Nerd Watch.

She looked determined, and then slumped again, I observed her, the severly depressed status was back playing havoc with her WIS score. "I don't use cellphones."

"What? Why?!" How did she even survive?

"My mother died using a phone while driving."

"Taylor, l don't mean the slightest disrespect to your mother, but that is stupid. My parents were killed by Leviathan, I spent all the summers I could vacationing at beaches and hitting the pools just to get over my fear of water."

She became contemplative, "I, I'll talk to dad."

I nodded resolutely, "Yep. And take me with you when you go to buy a phone, us nerds live to give advice on which gadgets to buy."

She snorted at that, but nodded, then slumped again. How badly was this girl bullied?

"They'll take my phone. Will you set me up with that constantly uploading camera thing? But I'll still need to hack the school wifi!"

"Don't worry about all that, I'll do you one better, I have a spare set of spy-glasses which you can borrow till you have enough evidence, we'll go get them fitted to your prescription when you go to buy your phone."

"Will you do that for me? Really?"

I made a mock condescending face, "I don't know what they do in your country young lady. But back in India we help our friends."

This time her smile was genuine, and then got bitter, "In America we suddenly start tormenting them."

I nodded, "Good thing I'm from India then."

She nodded, "Thanks Aveek, that'll be a lot of help."

I bowed, "At your service. Anyway, my turn, you having any problems with Maths or Sciences?"

She smiled and nodded, "If you could help me a bit with circuits, I can't figure them out well." She took out a book from a pile, opened it to a page and handed it over.

As I touched the book, it happened - I felt a small pulse of Mana leave my fingertips and go into the book, shit. I didn't even initiate a scan! Don't glow don't glow don't glow!

Thankfully it didn't glow, but I got a prompt.

 **You've found a skill book!**

 **Would you like to learn the knowledge skill Physics?**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**


	13. Setup 2-3

**Setup 2.3**

 _December 27, 2010, Hebert House - Brockton Bay, 5:47 PM_

Taylor was giving me a weird look. Because I was staring the book with a startled expression... Right, recovery mode!

"Ah, these circuits, mix of serial and parallel, there's a trick to it, let me remember." I changed the startled expression to a thoughtful one and took the book.

Okay, time bought. Skill Books! How could I've not thought of that! Now as far as I remembered, in almost all the RPG's I've played, consuming skill books disintegrated them in a lightshow, and I'm sure the dick AI would exactly do that to this book if I accepted. Dammit, I declined for now. But wow! Skill books! This changes everything!

I spent some time teaching Taylor the tricks of circuits. Danny came in after a while, Taylor mentioned the cellphone, he looked indecisive, I gave him the same line about hydrophobia again. It worked, he said he wanted one too. I was more than glad to offer my help in choosing the right device. We decided to go the day after next. I had no books at my place, so I asked them if they knew any secondhand bookstore, Taylor gave me a weird look again. I explained I wanted to gift dada something, and he liked old books. Phew! Recovery successful, but I didn't get any more charisma points, I guess this is the problem when stats went higher, they get much harder to train. Anyway, they mentioned a local bookstore which had a second hand section. I thanked them and left. Oh, and my Taylor friendship quest completed, one more levelup, awesome!

I went home, asked dada for a wad of cash, he quirked an eyebrow. I just said "I can absorb books", he just said "Ah.", went to his room came back with a wad of cash, an actual wad of cash! Coolest. Brother. Ever.

I located the bookstore in the maps, about 3 blocks away, sped off towards it in a fast run. The bookstore was still open, thank heavens. I went in, asked for the second hand self help, DIY, and used textbooks sections. The clerk lady pointed vaguely at 2 directions and I was off like a rocket, kept running my hands through the spines and picking out whatever gave a prompt, not even bothering what the prompts were. It took me a total of something like 20 minutes to round up around a hundred books. Then I went through them again, removed about 12 skills I absolutely didn't care for. I mean I didn't really want to learn Curling, neither did I give a damn about Horse Breeding, nor making party decorations for that matter.

The lady was giving me suspicious looks, I gave her an exasperated smile and said, "Book exchange theme party, guest list suddenly shot up way beyond estimate." She gave me an understanding nod, I pointed her to the pile and she started checking them out. I took a more sedate pace around the more expensive non-used section, picking up sword-crafting (The skill actually said Crafting: Swords), Mnemonic techniques, Criminal Psychology, Software Architecture and Aikido (I'd already gotten Krav Maga and Jeet Kune do in the Second hand pile).

I went back to the counter grinning like a loon. The tally came up to a heavy $776, I leveled up my Negotiation skill once more and got a bulk discount, paying $600 for it all. I helped her pack the books in a couple of cartons, lifted it feigning some difficulty, refused her help to take it to the car which she obviously assumed I had. Got out, rounded the corner, found a deserted alley, couldn't inventory the cartons whole, so opened them and inventoried the books. It took inhuman control to not absorb one just to see what happens, didn't need to attract any attention with blue flashes.

I ran back home, gave back $400 to dada, then ran up to my room. Took out Aikido, accepted the prompt, yes, blue flash and it's gone, good, otherwise I'd just have had wasted a ton of money (Or did the AI disintegrate the book just because I expected it to? Dammit! Bad thought! Bad thought!)... I had the insatiable urge to go to dada and say, "I know kung-fu", but sadly, he would just reply, "huh. Good for you." Instead of, "show me." He had no appreciation for the classics. But in my head bloomed concepts of locks, blocks, throws, joints and pressure points... Wow, what a headrush! I then absorbed Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do, and MMA, They didn't count as individual skills, just leveled up my Unarmed Combat skill to level 17. But so much information, so many ways to hurt and kill people! My head was swimming, and I could tell absorbing even one more book would actually overwhelm me. I went into meditation and let the information sort itself out, watching all that data fit into my mind, literally turning into muscle memory! It was almost complete when I was shaken awake by dada, it had been two hours already?! Wow, okay, he had already made dinner, so I went down with him and dined. I told him about my acquisitions, he actually said, "Huh, that's pretty cool. Did you buy any books on Accounting or Economics?" Goddamn one-track mind!

After dining, I went back to the books, I tried a spot of shadow boxing and it was beautiful! The previous books had already settled, so I tried one more, took out a university level Nuclear Physics textbook, trying to absorb it told me that I didn't have enough physics skill to absorb it, fair enough. Instead I took out the Sword Smithing book and absorbed it, I got the Crafting skill, and blueprints for numerous types of swords, the knowledge of exactly how to make a sword filled me. But the blueprints didn't exactly seem linked to the crafting skill, what did that mean?

I focused on a katana blueprint, opened my palm, channeled as much mana as I could with the goal of creating the katana in the blueprint. Huh, not sufficient mana, but there was definitely potential there, I rummaged through my desk and picked up a pencil. Scanned it, got a pencil blueprint, then focused on that blueprint and tried to materialize it, this time I got sufficient mana, but too much complexity. Dammit! I found an eraser, scanned it. Then tried to materialize it. It was working, I felt mana pool in my palm and try to form something, I focused harder on the shape, the nature of rubber, the functionality of erasing pencil marks, the tangled chains of hydrocarbons, linked together by sulphur molecules. I put all my focus into the _being_ of a pencil eraser. I could feel the mana taking shape, the form solidified, then something clicked! And I had a glowing blue eraser on my palm.

Wow, just that cost 284 MP! And I got two skills, Mana Projection and Mana Construct. Creating mana constructs cost 10 MP per gram, and a maximum complexity of 5mm resolution only! That was highway robbery! And the current mana projection range was only upto 2cm from my body, that was no good! I put the eraser on the table, and slowly started taking my hand away, when my finger was about 2cm away from it, it lost cohesion, fizzled out into motes of mana and came back into my hand, my MP topped back up. I got the distinct feeling as it disintegrated that I could turn those motes into any form of energy I wanted. Okay, both these skills needed a lot of training before they could be of any use.

Time for a different experiment. Without focusing on any blueprints, I put out 100MP of mana and focused on the concept of Lithium, a lot of focusing on its nature gave me a tiny metal ball, glowing blue. I held the ball and tapped it to the desk, it was solid, I then mana scanned it. Checked the scan, it was a metal ball alright, except - it wasn't real, it was just a mana projection that interacted with reality exactly as if a metal ball would. Huh, so anyway, freeform construction was doable, just needed more focus than using a blueprint.

Then I tried turning the ball into cotton, that was actually easier, I didn't focus on the positioning of the individual cellulose fibers, just their presence, their homogeneity, it would possibly not be considered as complex. It wasn't, changing the nature required lesser focus than constructing it, the metal ball turned into a much larger cotton ball, bigger than my palm almost. Okay, so as long as it was a single construct the far end of it didn't need to be closer than 2cm, just the near end, now try flattening into a sheet, it worked and drooped around my hand like cloth, but the sheet was unnecesarily thick, exactly 5mm thick I'd bet. I tried shrinking it in size and pulled mana out of it, that too worked, I stopped at a tiny ball of cotton, then turned it into pure mana. I had a ball of shimmering Cherenkov Blue on my palm, I brought it to my fingertip, then dissipated it.

Again, I constructed 1mp worth of aerogel. It took a bit more focus than cotton, possibly because I had less tangible experience of its properties. Clear ball, about a marble's size, incredibly lightweight, glowing blue. Good, now the harder part, I pumped mana into it, focusing on the goal to turn it into **Reality** _._ It was incredibly mentally taxing, I actually had a momentary glimpse of the nature of Matter, a set of equations incredibly complex, pure energy condensed into a pattern, pure _Concepts_ condensed into a form. It clicked into place, and I was down 100 MP. The ball stopped glowing. I let it drop, it fell to the floor.

...Wow.

I got a new skill called Mana Conversion. Apparently it had '?' marked subskills, and I'd learnt Matter Conversion, which was last on the list of question marks. Okay, I kept the aerogel ball on my desk. Again I projected a 1MP mote, and willed the mote to turn into white light. Ow! Eyes almost blinded, that was lot of light for 1MP, almost like a camera flash. And I'd learnt Radiation Conversion. I tried sound, producing a 'pop' like a bottle opening, I tried force, and produced a more audible pop and felt a mild shockwave travel outwards from my fingertip. Ah, both of them were aspects of Kinetic Conversion. Huh, okay, I tried that again, but this time, I just focused 1MP of mana into my fingertip, pointed it at the eraser, and willed it into pure force, just aimed at the eraser, this time there was almost no sound, but the eraser flew off the desk as if flicked. I retrieved the eraser and put it on the floor, and put 10mp into a force beam from above, the eraser had a 5mm round deep dent, more of a hole that almost went halfway through.

I thought of a lot more experiments, but I'd need a more controlled environment for that. Oh what the heck! I pointed my finger again, and manifested 10MP of coherent infrared aimed at another part of the eraser. Neat charred 5mm wide hole, smell of burnt rubber, less than halfway through.

Really, wow. But amidst all of this I constantly kept having that nagging bad thought. This was all so much intent based! The AI loves to yank my chain... And I totally intended for the books to disappear!

Steeling myself, I took out the Software Architechture book. It was worth quite a lot of money, it was a subject I liked, it was a very valuable book. I didn't want it destroyed, I didn't want any lightshows. I didn't want anything visible. I touched the book, and accepted the prompt.

I got a level 26 Programming skill. Database planning, solution approach, enterpise architecture, class modeling, execution layers, dependency injection, closures - I finally understood closures... I knew coding-fu!

The book was still there.

"FUUUUCK!"

"Aveek! Everything alright?" I heard dada knock and poke his head in. I was standing defeated.

"I just wasted your 600 dollars."

"Nah, it's coming out of your allowance. I thought you asked for a loan."

"FUUUUUUUCK!"

He shrugged and went away... And then I had an even worse thought.

Hands shaking, I rummaged around the peripherals box and brought out a fresh memory chip. Put it in the phone, deleted everything else, put in a single copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook. Took the chip out, I was touching it, no effect. I sighed in relief.

On a whim, I channeled a speck of scanning mana into it.

 **You've found a skill book!**

 **Would you like to learn the knowledge skill Explosives?**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...


	14. Setup 2-4

**Setup 2.4**

 _December 28, 2010, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 7:11 AM_

I woke up with an actual hangover. Last night, after I had finished cursing Rob, his AI, and N generations of his honourable ancestors, I had downloaded all the books I could find on critical thinking, memory techniques, time management, mind hacks... etc. And absorbed 6 of them in an angry rush, then collapsed on the bed with my head about to burst.

My mind still felt fuzzy, I went into meditation and let things sort themselves out in my brain, even tried to push some mana into the process to see if it helped. Apparently mana wasn't a hammer and my mind wasn't a nail. Fair enough, it took about another three hours of meditation for the knowledge to finally settle. When I came out of meditation, I found a note from dada saying he left for office and didn't want to disturb my meditation, and with a postscript telling me he was going to charge lower than standard interest rates on the $600 loan because of 'family discount'. And the AI told me that all the skills learned last night had been clubbed into a macroskill called Occlumency. Fucking trolls, both of them. But I did appreciate the two INT points and the permanent +10% increase in INT the skill gave me. Hopefully I'll get some more free INT points from more knowledge skills

I headed out, jogged up to the alley near the bookstore, bless the gods of probability the cartons were still there. I repacked the books from the inventory into them, picked the cartons up, headed back into the bookstore with my best sheepish simper smeared like supersaturated slime on my sodding face. (I tend to get wordy when I'm filled with righteous anger, it's a defense mechanism)

20 minutes of liberal usage of Lying, Negotiation and Intimidation skills and I finally managed to get the counter lady to buy back the whole lot for $400 and gained a charisma point in the process. I came back home, left the money on the table with a note telling dada I was charging him only $200 for rescue from muggers and as future protection money, because of 'family discount'. Ha! Two can play that game!

I also pinned a note on my room door telling him not to disturb me till further notice except in case of emergencies. And then there were new skills to be had.

I found out that absorbing a single book and meditating while it assimilates was more efficient than absorbing a bunch and passing out. Also, the strain of assimilating a single book demanded much less focus. So I could simultaneously train mana boosting, relentlessly practice intensive katas and keep creating and reabsorbing simple mana constructs. Training that last skill up to the level where it would be of any proper use was going to be a pain, but it promised the greatest rewards.

* * *

 _January 3, 2011, Winslow High - Brockton Bay, 7:00 AM_

First day of school! I was so excited! - No I wasn't. Dada's insistence of social interaction was the only reason I was even going. It had taken me the last few days of almost constant learning to get up to a basic college level of education in almost all the subjects under the Earth. I intended to get a solid diverse grounding before I started specializing.

There had been only 3 interruptions in my skill acquisition spree. Once to go out with the Heberts to buy them decent phones; a sturdy basic smartphone for Taylor, one hardy dumbphone for Danny, and a throwaway second-hand smartphone for me - I wanted try messing with it using mana. I also set Taylor up with the spare spy-glasses, showed her how to access the relevant slice for her feed in the anonymous server, how to extract video clips and mail them to herself as evidence. She picked it up very quickly, INT monster after all. Once I was done with them, I excused myself, went into the market proper and bought a lot of myriad knick knacks and survival gear to get my inventory up to scratch. I had taken money from dada this time while pointedly specifying that it was _not_ a loan.

The second interruption was dada checking up on me to see 'if I'd left the mortal coil to achieve nirvana yet', smartass. He also informed me that we'd been invited to the new year's party at the Heberts'. Which was the third and final interruption, it was nice though, both Taylor and Danny were showing only mild depression, though I still had no clue why Taylor was not an NPC.

I'd also taken some time, during training biology, to write to Amy. Mentioning the disease curing retroviruses, plants which created novel sterile hypernutritious fruits, possible body enhancements that she could offer heroes, cosmetic treatments that she could sell. A living bio-armour for herself that she could use if she wanted to go out with her team in combat, new super tranquilizers and paralytics she could sell to the PRT. To help vicky control her aura, a bracelet containing an amygdala which would glow everytime it experiences a sudden hormone influx. To avoid addiction and other mental conditions, even if she didn't do brains - which was a good restriction - she could map out the chemical imbalances in detail and create customized drug plans to mitigate those imbalances... And tons of other ideas. I'd received a reply soon enough thanking me and telling me she'd consider them very seriously and would let me know which options she would develop. That was nice of her.

Anyway, finally, I was at the gates of Winslow High, I'd heard such good things about this school! - No I hadn't. By mutual agreement Taylor had gone in separately when we got down from the bus, I didn't want the pattern of her bullies to change because she was seen coming in with a newly transferred upperclassman. I realized I was getting a lot of wary looks from the gang-affiliates and social politickers, I also realized why.

The point gains of my physical stats had turned my physique to actually athletic which filled up my usually looser turtleneck. The DEX gains - combined with a respectable level of martial arts training and the freshly acquired Etiquette and Social Body-Language skills had made my movements very fluid and catlike. Add to that a thing that I noticed only today, the gain in charisma points had actually very subtly smoothened the pockmarks on my skin and made my usually scraggly features seem 'sharp' instead (Not that I didn't appreciate it, but what the fuck AI? Really! Does it hurt to ask before you go around changing stuff like that?). I was suppressing the mild trepidation left-over from my socially awkward past self and exuding confidence instead. Overall, with my brown messenger bag (containing only the Software Architecture book which I'd chosen to keep as a reminder to always have an open mind), black turtleneck, properly pressed black trousers and well shined boots - Danny had jokingly remarked when I came to pick Taylor up that I looked "like one of Marquis' deputies!" With what I knew from research, I took that as a compliment.

I made my way towards the principal's office, having obtained directions from Taylor earlier. There was a secretary sitting at a desk in the waiting room beside a door which I presumed led to the principal's office proper. I had already developed a habit of observing everyone and archiving their results, I gave hers a quick once-over, nothing out of the ordinary. Walking up to her desk, I inquired, "Good morning miss Chambers, Aveek SenSharma, transfer student. Would you kindly direct me to the right place to begin my day?"

She looked up and stared at me for almost ten seconds (social reading told me it was with admiration and longing), then coughed when she realized she was staring. "Ah, ahem. Uh. Yes, Good morning, Mr. Sensharma. You were expected, please give me your transfer papers." I put my hand into my bag and brought out the papers from my inventory in a well practised move. She took them, went through them, nodding at appropriate places. "Right, everything is in order, I have your competency tests ready here. They are a simple set of MCQs for each of your chosen subjects to see if you have to take remedial classes for any of those. You can sit here and fill them up, it takes about an hour and a half. Do you have a pencil?" She had fallen into the comfort of rote, pointing at the couch and table at the other side of the waiting room.

I nodded. "Yes, thank you." I took the papers, went to the couch, sat down, took out a pencil from my inventory/bag. Took a moment to configure the Anonymity Protocols to alert me if I were to answer a question that my civilian persona should not be able to, then started answering the questions. It had taken some time to get around to understanding how to configure in the civilian persona properly at a level above average but well within human limits, my burgeoning programming skills had helped a lot.

I took only an hour to finish the tests. Miss Chambers was suitably impressed and fed the tests into a scanner, informing me that I was to wait for my interview with the principal, she went back to her desktop - possibly to process the tests. I went back to sit at the couch. After about half an hour, during which she stole quite a few glances at me, she asked me to go in.

I thanked her again and went in through the door. Principal Blackwell was a very typical school principal looking person. She was busy with something on her desktop. I introduced myself, "good morning, Madam Blackwell - Aveek SenSharma, transfer student.". I took my time to go through her Observe results while she repeated the staring act - ugh, I hated these 'for the greater good' types. Hopefully she'll get her act together once Taylor's case blows up in her face. She recovered better than her secretary, taking only about 7 seconds (I'd also configured the system clock in the AI to be more at the forefront of my mind), "Hello Mr. SenSharma," proper pronunciation, how nice of her, "please take a seat." I complied.

It was a pretty mundane interview, she complimented the Indian education standards, told me my STEM competency was way beyond high school levels, gave me a pass to skip those classes if I wanted to. Also told me that my World History was satisfactory, but I'd have to take remedial American History, gave me the schedules for those. I got the distinct impression throughout the time that she was being exceptionally nice to me because I had the markings of a star academic student.

She also asked me about why I didn't choose to apply for any sports when I looked definitely fit. I gave her a polite answer about fitness being more of a relaxing hobby and that I was far more into academics to have time for sports. Which apparently pleased her very much. Then she gave me a general primer on how gang activity and bullying were severely condemned and how I should immediately report if I have concrete evidence of anything of that nature. I kept my amusement fully suppressed and nodded along exuding sincerity. Finally she gave me the directions to the World History classroom, the period for which was about to begin in about 10 minutes.

I thanked her and left to get to that class. Students were milling about, presumably in between periods. On the way I noticed something odd while nearing the lockers, the student density there was very sparse, and whoever was there was exuding mixes of anxiety, trepidation and worry. Very suspicious.

I found out the reason soon enough, there were dull thumping noises coming from one of the lockers and everyone who was there was making an effort to not look at that direction. I observed the locker.

 **Taylor's Locker**

 **Quality: Mundane**

 **Contains few of Taylor's belongings, a lot of menstrual waste from many other girls, and Taylor herself, who has just triggered with a parasite power.**

That's why she was not an NPC!

 **QUEST COMPLETED!**

 **Get to the bottom of this!**

 **Found out why Taylor is not an NPC!**

 **Success:**

 **You got 30000 XP,**

 **Taylor is now a potential party member.**

* * *

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 10**

 **Party options unlocked!**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 11**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 12**

 **LEVEL UP! You've reached Lvl. 13**


	15. Setup 2-5

**Setup 2.5**

 _January 3, 2011, Winslow High - Brockton Bay, 9:57 AM_

Well, I was overjoyed at all the gains and realizations, but I figured I should do something about the situation. I don't think Taylor was doing anything important inside, she was already done triggering. Might as well let her out. Ugh, emotional controls had clamped down to suppress surprise and hadn't let up, I think I'd configured the emergency override a bit too loosely.

Okay, saner thoughts prevailed with nominal emotional feedback reinstated. Had to get her out without displaying any supernatural knowledge. I went towards the locker, it smelled like an unattended hospital dumpster in the rainy season (speaking from experience). I injected uncertainty and worry into my posture and voice, "Is there someone trapped here?" The thumping increased and I heard a muffled yell, well that was enough incentive.

I made a show of grabbing the handle, leveraging myself by planting a foot on the adjacent locker, and heaving. The lock wrenched free, the door yanked open, Taylor came out screaming and flailing, smeared in brown gunk. A crowd had started forming, the kids all around still radiating apprehension mixed with apathy. I arrested Taylor's fall before she could bang her head on the floor.

Seconds passed, Taylor was still incoherently flailing, I paid no heed to her arms flapping at me and held her firmly. Turning around to the crowd in general, I poured a bit of command and intimidation and yelled at them, "What're you looking at? Get the doctor! Now!" A few of them turned and ran, the rest were still busy staring at us, good for them. I swivelled my head around to let my spy-glasses have a good view of all the bystanders. Hey! I knew that girl, that's Bitch 1 from the cafe! And the girl beside her, wow, Level 23! She was the new ward! And she was Bitch 2! I shot off an observe.

Ugh. Just plain ugh, this was such a mess! Have these people never learnt of psychotherapy? Poor Shadow Stalker's WIS was debuffed down to 2 by her powers, quite strong powers though! And the predator-prey ideology thing was narrow beyond comprehension. Both Bitch 1 and Bitch 2 were exuding smugness and irritation. I'll deal with them soon, first things first.

I took out my phone and called 911, as soon as the operator picked up, I just said "Winslow High school, student assaulted, send a hazmat team ASAP." I noticed Shadow Stalker was almost lunging at me to snatch the phone, Emma Barnes' smugness had changed to panic. I cut the call, angled my head for the camera to get a clear view of her and shifted at the last moment so her hand clawed my face instead, I turned on Anonymity Protocol Emulation to let a scratch mark form on my cheek, it stung.

Taylor had finally stopped flailing, she was still sobbing incoherently though. Sophia drew back after her grab for the phone missed, she was preparing for another try. I turned on Intimidation to full power, arranged my posture and expression for maximum aggressiveness, looked her in the eye, she flinched. I immediately brought my expression back to neutral, and deadpanned with intimidation still on, "Don't." Sophia stilled, eyes wide, mouth agape. Good, that was that taken care of for the moment.

Everyone had lapsed to an anticipatory silence. Only the faint buzzing of insects could be heard. Wait, that was not faint at all, I observed a fly zigzagging near the trash in the locker, fuck. I observed Taylor, double fuck, the girl was going to out herself first thing after triggering, and what ridiculous power! I'm so adding her to the party. But first things first, I grabbed Taylor by the neck, she'd quietened down, but her face was twisted in fury at the two bitches. I forcefully turned her head towards me, "Taylor, look at me, ease up, please, breathe." doing my best to inject both command and kindness in my voice and face. She looked at me, still furious, I shook my head imperceptibly. The buzzing started to decrease... Thank the INT monster, she got it! I asked her again, tapping my glasses, "What happened?"

She nodded at me, radiating anger and vindication, she was starting to hyperventilate again, damn, wrong question! She pointed a shaky hand at the two bitches, "It was them, Sophia, pushed me into, into..." The buzzing was perceptible again, shit, I drew from my Shiatsu and Biology skills, applying steady pressure on her Vagus nerve with the index finger of the hand holding her neck. Her breathing started to hitch, she started to swoon. Meanwhile I turned my attention to back to Hess and Barnes. Hess was watching me with simmering rage and wariness, while Barnes had apparently found some measure of smug back to go with her panic. Taylor's hand was slumping, Barnes stepped forward, "You can't prove that, no one will believe you!"

I gave them a deadpan smile, "Strange choice of words." Hess turned back to Barnes and hissed "Shut up Emma!" Taylor had finished fainting by now, her status showed Unconscious. I slowly eased her to the ground, made a show of checking her pulse, and stood up. The crowd had grown considerably.

"She's right you know." A high-pitched, almost lilting voice piped up. Ah, Bitch 3, Clements, I was wondering where she was. She had an almost innocent looking smile, "No one saw anything, you can ask anyone here." I looked around, quite a few were actively agreeing with her, most others were quiet, slumped postures, some girls were actually verbalizing their solidarity, this was gold! I made a slow sweep of all of them, then focused back to Clements, who was standing with Hess now, both smirking, I looked down at Taylor's prone, bloody form, just a quick glance, and turned back to Clements, injecting surprise and panic into my voice, "You don't see anything?!" All the three of them were smug and shaking their heads, perfect, I couldn't have hoped for anything better, but Clements went above and beyond, "You're new, you'll learn." and their whole group were nodding like robots. Haha! I've never had such a brilliant setup!

I slumped in a defeated posture and sat down, hunching with my back to the lockers, legs bent, blocking everyone's view of me bringing my phone surreptitiously to bear. I'd already noticed the School Doctor, or Nurse, as her class label said, rounding the corner, hurrying over, Blackwell in tow, the police must have called her. I didn't have much time to work.

I mentally calculated the timestamps, opened the camera feed, extracted the perfect timeline from the last 23 seconds. Opening and ending with Clements's beautifully creepy delivery. Attached it to a PM on PHO, which went:

 _"Help, I just recorded this at Winslow high, a student was attacked, I've already called the police, but something weird is going on! These kids are possibly being mastered. I feel trapped! Please help!"_

The darknet forums are rife about speculations on how the always-active Tin_Mother is Dragon's Civillian account. It would be a good test of the theory, I sent off the PM with the video clip to her.

Time to see how much shit I could throw at the fan.


	16. Interlude 2-Robin

**Interlude - 2. Robin**

 _January 3, 2011, The Rig - Brockton Bay, 10:01 AM_

Most people thought of Robin as a weak-ass speedster, he resented that. The PRT's branding machine also focused on his breaker/mover aspects, they named him Velocity. He didn't dislike the name too much, but the aspect of his power that he personally felt most profoundly was the thinker aspect. He could think thousands of times faster than the average human when he wanted to! Though it meant not being able to move at all in that state, even air resistance was a huge issue at 1000X. It also meant he was a pretty lonely person, he often interacted with people only after subjective days of isolation at times. He didn't mind it much, he liked thinking.

Thankfully his team leader understood this aspect. Armsmaster had made him a reading tablet; ultra thin, ultra light, with an ultra sensitive touchscreen and the fastest downlink he could requisition, programmed to handle going into breaker state with him. Robin treasured it. It also made him the second best criminal profiler in the team, the best was Assault, no points for guessing why. Whoever was sitting at the console was always instructed to send him the full case files on any incident he was responding to. Quite a few times he's been specifically asked to work on a quick-response case which needed a lot of background knowledge. It was his niche, and he liked it.

This time the dispatch came directly from Dragon, skipping the console altogether, copy to PRT HQ. That meant pretty high priority, he started reading the files while waiting for the protectorate approval to come through, as Dragon was not in his chain of command, but an affiliate. It was not a novel scenario, Dragon would often send him the case files first and then ping Colin for approval, which he usually gave blindly. Still, for him, that could take a while.

The dispatch summary and goals were a bit sketchy. Probable M/S situation - severity 3 (Low chance of widespread damage, but ensure target containment). The location was Winslow High, targets were about 20 schoolchildren. 3 of them were recommended M/S screening Level 4 (Treat as potential hostile, full 2 days quarantine with observation, scans, heavy interrogation, secure all belongings for investigation), with special focus Sophia Hess, marked as a flight risk. Wait, that was the new kid, Shadow Stalker! Robin had gone on patrol with her a few times, she was a very unsavoury sort, would not last a week in military school before being court-martialled for insubordination. Hoo boy, she was in a deep pickle this time! 15 of them were to be held for M/S screening level 2 (Treat as low-potential hostile, 5 hours of local observation, in-depth interview, 100 question sanity check, secure suspicious belongings if any), and finally 2 of them were to be M/S screened level 1 only, (Treat as potential victim, basic interview, 15 question sanity check), that too for one girl only after proper medical aid was provided. The rest of the school staff were also slated for level 2 screening, and all other kids in the vicinity of the event for level 1 screening, but those were Severity 4 (low impact, containment not mandatory).

This warranted a bit more in-depth reading, he checked the network clock, it had only been 8 seconds, the tablet system clock showed he was running at 15X, fair enough, he had all the time in hand. He opened the case folder and saw the video. That looked really creepy. It was a really short snippet, was that a corpse? The body of the girl was right there and the schoolchildren were smirking and saying they saw nothing. It did look like a strange M/S scenario. He sent of a request to Dragon asking for more of the video if she had it.

The target dossiers were quite meaty, specially for the guy who reported it and for Sophia Hess. He skimmed through Hess' file, not much new there; but he noted that she was marked for therapy after her initial psych eval, but the PRT did not have any available slots for therapy, what nonsense! He sent a memo to Piggot asking her to find a therapist on high priority for all the wards.

He then read Dragon's analysis of the video clip, blah blah vocal stress patterns blah blah facial analysis blah blah sciency shit - conclusion, everyone is apparently quite stressed, even the creepy smiling master girl. And even the recording guy was stressed - asterisk there, he'd check later why. The video was recorded at eye level and nobody in the video is aware they're being recorded - another asterisk. Okay, that was very weird.

Ah, the approval arrived, he checked the network time, 38 seconds from when Dragon sent the dispatch, wow Colin was either being super attentive or super busy. Betting on the latter, he ran down to the equipment lockers, the world almost at a standstill against him, then dropped down to only 2X speed. Checking out a taser, some regular cuffs, one of the two Shadow Stalker rated electro-cuffs, put them in the pouch snug with his body, he stamped the requisition slips, then sped off.

Running over water was so much fun! It was like running on a soft beach. Jogging casually over the sea at 50X towards the nearest beach, he took out the reader again, at this speed it took some effort to extend his breaker effect to his reader while sticking it to his palm. He began to read the dossier on the sender of the video, the asterisks had gotten him curious.

Okay, the kid was the very definition of a badass nerd. Fresh immigrant, orphaned by Leviathan, lives with cousin, from a family of geniuses - was involved in India with a high profile school sexual assault incident where it was recorded using eyeglasses with embedded spycams. Regular visitor to the dark net (suspected hacker connections), cape geek. Was involved in a recent incident where he literally disarmed an E88 member while being shot at. He watched that video too. That explained both asterisks, the spycam-glasses for the second asterisk. For the first one - the kid who can maintain such composure in a gunfight, speaking with such apparent panic would be anomalous. Would that be more proof of master influence? That didn't make sense. Why would the master want him to panic so much that he reports online? Or was the panic faked? That would make more sense, if the kid was extremely devious, that faked panic was to elicit the right reactions to give more weight to the video. It was a farfetched idea, also, what would be the motive then?

He reached the beach and began running towards the location of the school, still going at 50X. He was still quite a bit away when he received the next update, his current mission parameters were basically to be the first responder and contain the situation till the police arrived and sealed off the school, then wait for the PRT-crowd control/interrogation team to arrive, after which Miss Militia will come and take over. That was good, Hannah was a much better people person, well suited for interrogation of minors. His goals also included getting the injured girl immediate medical care and shipping her off in the ambulance that will be arriving. The dispatch also had a note from Dragon saying that she'd already asked the kid to give the rest of the video (it was obvious by now that his camera was always on), and he was complying.

Robin took a moment to rest about a mile away from the school, even his breaker state was prone to fatigue. At least he could rest at 10X easily. He checked the time, 136 seconds after first dispatch, and more than an hour in his personal time. Two more video clips arrived, he hit play and started running towards the school again. He passed an ambulance, possibly heading to the school.

The first, shorter video, was him approaching the locker, Sophia and the two other girls clearly visible standing around the locker, other bystanders also present. The locker being opened, (either the kid had very dainty hands or this was someone else recording altogether), the view jerking, then turning to one side showing the redhead with a vicious grin and then Sophia's hand covering the camera, then the locker closes from the outside and all is dark, you can hear the girl screaming and asking for help. Okay, so he sent a video of the victim's POV? The timestamp was much earlier in the morning. She had spy glasses too? She'd been trapped in there for more than two hours?!

He quickly read Dragon's dissection of the video, the victim was the nerd's neighbour. That could explain her having spyglasses too, if this event or similar were anticipated... That spoke of prolonged and severe bullying! Shit! if Shadow Stalker remained in the wards after this he was going to quit.

He checked the second video, the nerd taking leave from the principal, approaching the locker, hearing noises, enquiring, wrenching the locker door open (strong for a nerd - badass!), rescuing the girl, Shadow Stalker clawing (presumably) at his phone, him stopping her with one word - okay, it was official. He'd read Shadow Stalker's psych eval, anybody who could stop her in her tracks was either a real badass or a cape themselves, he shot a memo recommending a physical for him (including brain scans) as a part of his M/S screening, it might be an underhanded move but the PRT was no stranger to those.

Robin sped past the police cars going the same way, and watched the rest of the video, the whole confrontation with the 3 girls, leading to the beginning of the first video sent. He pocketed the tablet, sped up to 100X, and continued on a very languid jog, the rushing air helped him think.

His original suspicion seemed more and more plausible. The first video was deliberately edited for maximum effect, and his panic was faked with that in mind. He delivered the first video via PM to Dragon, getting the attention of the Protectorate and the PRT. Once they were confirmed to have mobilized, he sent the rest of the video. This would be only plausible if he were aware of Sophia's ward status. Honestly it's quite difficult for anyone even with hacker connections and/or a sharp mind to get hold of a cape's civilian identity, but not so difficult to find out a civilian's cape identity after focused research. Which seemed to be quite possible here. In which case, the kid played everyone like a banjo! All the while remaining strictly within the unwritten rules! If he turns out to be not a cape, Robin would recommend he join the PRT starting as a strategist! Well played kid, well played.

His respect for Dragon also shot up a lot. She had possibly guessed all this just from the first video and her research itself! Hence her non-standard M/S screening recommendations, otherwise everyone involved with the video would have been recommended a uniform level 3 screening to begin with, instead of the mix of 4s, 2s, and 1s that she asked for. He thought he could think a lot in a short time, but these people were playing on a whole other league altogether!

He recieved one last update, this one from Armsmaster - "Keep a close eye on Sophia, tase her if she twitches wrong." Good, that guy at least had his priorities straight.

172 seconds after first dispatch. Robin entered the school and reached the location provided by the maps from Dragon's case file. the kid was standing there, surrounded by a small crowd including the 3 perps, cool as a cucumber, talking to the principal - the nurse was kneeling down tending to the victim. He dropped down to full normal 1X, letting go of his breaker state. Then clapped and spoke loudly in a booming voice:

"Not to worry kids, the heroes are here! I was passing by when I heard the police dispatch about this. Now, how about you all sit down wherever you're standing, and I'll keep you company till the authorities arrive and sort this mess out. I promise to take a photo with the first five who sit down and I'll post it on PHO!"


	17. Tutorial 3-0

**Tutorial - 3.0**

 _January 3, 2011, Winslow High - Brockton Bay, 10:00 AM_

I stood up again as Blackwell and the nurse lady arrived, no need for the act now. Blackwell asked trying to put on her most authoritative air, "What's going on?" Her nervousness was palpable. All the students immediately started clamouring to vocalize their stories simultaneously, especially the bitches 3. That was good for me, I just wanted to stall the whole situation till either the police or the PRT arrived, I'd studied the darknet leaks of their M/S screening protocols, the master claim would not hold ground for a moment, the whole bullying thing would come to the forefront as the more plausible explanation immediately. Which was my goal.

Nurse Wainscott, a very honest and diligent woman as her Observe result told me, had immediately knelt down by Taylor and started checking her pulse, I knelt beside her and addressed her, "She's stable, she was lucid before she passed out possibly due to nerve shock and stress. Pulse normal, no obvious sign of concussions, best to wake her up in a more controlled environment. Would you mind checking her for cuts and scrapes and disinfect them if any?"

She gave me a sharp look, "Are you trained?"

"Basic paramedic training ma'am." More like basic first aid, but it was in my school transcript. And my current medical knowledge was that of med-school levels easily.

She nodded, opened her bag, pulled out a mild disinfectant bottle and a pack of gauze swabs, and set to cleaning her up methodically. My phone buzzed, PM in the PHO app. It was Dragon herself! Theory proven! Also, it'd been less than a minute, damn she was fast!

 _'Hello Mr. SenSharma, your message was forwarded to me by Tin_Mother. Your concerns have been noted and passed on to the Protectorate and PRT-ENE, they're immediately mobilizing. That being said, can you send me the rest of the video now so that we can try to find out what really is the matter? If this is a false alarm, half your school will not be happy to be detained for Master/Stranger screening.'_

Ah, she got me. Well, I'd expect nothing less from the world's premiere tinker. But it also seemed she supported my ulterior motive by mobilizing the authorities, of course she'd be aware of Shadow Stalker's identity. I was cautiously hoping she was in my camp. I replied to the PM saying, _'At once ma'am.'_ Then made sure that my angle was concealing the phone screen and immediately started scrolling through Taylor's spyglass feeds, might as well send the whole evidence set.

I heard Blackwell saying my name, "...SenSharma could not have done any of that, Ms. Barnes, he was in my office since before first period. Mr. SenSharma?" I raised a finger and replied without looking, "One moment Madam Blackwell, I'm replying to the authorities, they're keeping in touch with me." I went back to checking the feed.

Scrubbing back through more than two hours' worth of her feed got me to the point she was pushed in, she had actually turned her head enough to catch Hess in the act, attagirl! I extracted that one, then extracted from my feed a clip of me leaving the principal's office till Clements' creepy act. I sent both the clips to her. Then attached all 3 clips to a mail and sent it with a quick summary to the BPPD too. I'd gotten their email id when I was sending dada's shooting video.

Dragon messaged me again, _'Thank you. This makes things clearer, still, everybody would be investigated just to be sure your local hero Velocity is already on his way, as is an ambulance, the police, and a PRT team. Please cooperate with them.'_

Booyah! She was in my camp! That was a big gamble that paid off spectacularly. I sent a quick _'Of course. Thank you for all your help '_ , then stood back up and faced Blackwell. "Madam Principal, you were saying?"

She opened her mouth and closed it again, slightly annoyed but also impressed. "Not relevant. Yes, the precinct called me too. Have you requested an ambulance?"

"Its on its way I was told. Everybody here has been asked to wait and cooperate with the authorities, they'll be-" I noticed a red blur coming and stopping right outside the crowd, then a clapping noise. Velocity.

"Not to worry kids, the heroes are here! I was passing by when I heard the police dispatch about this. Now, how about you all sit down wherever you're standing, and I'll keep you company till the authorities arrive and sort this mess out. I promise to take a photo with the first five who sit down and I'll post it on PHO!"

Smart man, I realized he was actually the perfect guy for this job: Visible, jocund, perceptive (he got minutes of time to think and react in a millisecond) and excellent at crowd control. Guess the Garam capes are not totally useless here after all.

I made an impressed "Oh!" sound and made to sit down, I didn't even have to fake it, I was a cape geek after all. Several boys immediately sat down to beat me, and then each other, at being first. Good old crowd psychology, I finally sat down after I was sure more than 5 kids were already sitting. Everyone followed with a mix of reluctance, eagerness and trepidation. Barnes and Clements were very nervous, but they managed to maintained their composure, Sophia was last, she gave Velocity a rueful look, he nodded firmly, she slumped down. Ah, she figured she was had.

He took out a tablet and his fingers blurred on it. Wow, that was some serious hardware, and it also meant his fast thinking ability actually was capitalized upon. It also struck me that he might have a very good idea of exactly what's going on.

Velocity asked the nurse, "How's Miss Hebert doing?"

"She's stable. I've cleaned her up as much as possible. She still needs to be checked by a doctor though. She's physically mostly unharmed, but she'll need a lot of counselling after what she's gone through."

He nodded, "An ambulance is on the way." His head blurred once, then he turned to blackwell, "Principal, can you get the following students to be discreetly brought up here?" He rattled off 5 names, must be the additional witnesses from Taylor's video clip. I was impressed.

She nodded, asked the nurse for a piece of paper, then took out a pen and asked him to repeat the names. He did. Then she walked off, still quite nervous. He then proceeded to call out to the guys who sat down first and got another girl to take photos. Constantly talking and holding the attention of everybody. Kept them distracted for almost 10 minutes. I was very impressed.

I took the time to Observe him in more detail, ah, finally a parahuman with a low WIS debuff (only -3), his power debuffed his STR heavily in lieu of a massive DEX boost. He was a stand up guy too. Military training, extensive reading, my respect for him rose another notch. His threat level was only 27, I guess because he was more of an evasive cape than an offensive or defensive one.

I also got a text from dada, _'The police called me, you ok? Confirm.'_ , I replied with our safe code _'All ok. I'm in bed with a famous actress. Don't bother.'_ Our code was simple, make a silly sentence involving indoors for safety, outdoors for being compromised, and in water for being in danger. The main rule was to never use the same sentence twice.

Blackwell soon returned trailing the 5 kids like a mother duck. They were asked to sit too. Velocity checked his tablet again, nodded, asked Nurse Wainscott if there would be any trouble moving Taylor on a stretcher - she replied in the negative, just that there should be a familiar face if she wakes up.

Velocity nodded and gave me a sharp glance, I nodded back at him and stood up. Yep, he knew the whole story. He said, "her father has been informed, he's been asked to go straight to Brockton General. Aveek, would you be willing to accompany us for the trip to the hospital? You've had contact with the biohazard material too, I guess you also need a quick checkup." The Nurse nodded approvingly.

I smiled and nodded again, "Of course sir." I could see where this was going. I picked up Taylor's glasses from where the nurse had put them and pocketed them. Her schoolbag had been cut from the shoulder straps by the nurse and set aside, it was incredibly filthy. I motioned at it.

Velocity smiled, "Good man. We'll get those." His fingers blurred on his tablet again.

A troop of uniformed PRT soldiers came up the stairs, some of them in hazmat gear, followed by Miss Militia. I Observed her, another respectable cape, Level 58! High base WIS compensating for the debuff, high CHA score, average INT and slightly above average physicals, an honest good-hearted person above all, that was rare to begin with.

Miss Militia gave Velocity a quick greeting, told everyone that their guardians had been informed and they had nothing to worry. Then turned to the bitches 3, "Miss Hess, Miss Clements, Miss Barnes, your guardians have been asked to go to the PRT HQ, I would like you to go there for some questioning and paperwork."

Clements seemed like she was going to protest, but Barnes and Hess both readily agreed. Strange... Ah, I got it! Barnes was possibly aware of Hess' cape identity, and neither knew about the M/S situation or the videos that have been submitted! They were thinking they were just getting preferential treatment, heh, they weren't wrong.

Two Hazmat guys put Taylor on a stretcher and were going out. I moved to follow, glancing at Velocity, he nodded, and asked the 3 bitches to follow him. We went down and got out, and wow! An ambulance, a police car, two PRT vans and a PRT squad car at the gate, It all looked very Hollywood! I was let into the ambulance with Taylor and the hazmat guys, Velocity told me he'd meet me at the hospital, then escorted the girls to the squad car.

The ambulance left for Brockton General, I called Danny. He sounded frantic, "Aveek! What happened? The police just called me! Is Taylor alright?!"

"Everything is fine sir. Taylor is okay right now, she just passed out from stress, where are you?"

"I'm on my way to the hospital! You're sure Taylor is fine?"

"Definite sir, I'm with her, we'll see you at the hospital, please hang up and drive safely."

"Yes, of course, yes, I pulled out of traffic before taking the call, I'm not that stupid you know!"

"You're a worried parent, sir."

"Touche, I will see you guys at the hospital."

Taylor was stirring, all the movement must have woken her up. Her status still showed Tired and Confused, with the added power aggression debuff now. The hazmat guys were minding their own business, but I'd have to take care that she didn't out herself again. At least gathering insects in a moving van would be tougher. She opened her eyes blearily and looked at me. "Aveek. Dad?"

I nodded, "We're taking you to the hospital, he'll meet us there."

She tried sitting up, mildly agitated, then seemed to be lost in thoughts, "So many!"

I grabbed her shoulder and stopped her, "Taylor! Relax, don't bug out on us!"

She stared at me, first with a frown of confusion, then understanding, then with surprised panic, eyes wide open, head shaking. Then her eyes narrowed with barely contained hostility. Ugh, dammit, I've got to find out how to get rid of that aggression debuff.

I exuded understanding and compassion the best I could, shook my head, made a zip-my-lips-and-lock-it gesture. Already checked, this was not a PRT ambulance, no obvious camera placements. The hazmat guys were looking at us though, hopefully they would remain clueless. At least Social Empathy didn't show any suspicion on them, only pity and professional indifference.

She relaxed a bit. I steered the topic, "Just try to be normal for now, don't try too hard to understand everything. I'll tell you in detail later. By the way, I saw the video, you got them."

That was simultaneously a relieved and vicious smirk on her face. "Did you show it to them?"

I shook my head, "I did you one better, I sent it to the police. They've already been taken in. You just relax and rest now."

She nodded, took a few deep breaths, then dozed off.


	18. Tutorial 3-1

**Tutorial - 3.1**

 _January 3, 2011, Brockton General Hospital, 10:23 AM_

The rest of the ambulance ride was uneventful, dada called me once more and I confirmed that he doesn't need to come. Taylor was taken into the ER, I was asked to change into hospital-issue pyjamas (Thankfully not scrubs, I hate scrubs) and deposit my clothes into evidence bags. I complied, only keeping the other pair of spyglasses to wash thoroughly and inventory it. Thankfully my bag wasn't soiled at all so I got an excuse to keep and produce things from. Then I was asked to sit in the waiting room, oh well, patience is a virtue.

I began browsing through the Party Options, which were a detailed set of options of which all were disabled but one, 'Invite To Party' of course. In a few minutes, Danny arrived, simultaneously enraged and panicked. I spoke to him, giving him the least worrying version of the events, sadly, even with the best sugarcoating it sounded pretty nasty. Danny was building up a head of steam, ranting about how Taylor should have told him earlier, I interrupted him.

"Honestly sir, would you have told Taylor if you were having trouble with some thugs at the DWU?"

"No! But it's not the same thing! I'm her parent! I'm supposed to help with things like these!"

"The school would have done nothing without proof, their policies are pretty clear. Also, the wrong has been righted, the perpetrators are in custody, right now your anger is not finding any suitable outlets. The best option is to let it go, not direct it at your daughter, sir."

He deflated and sighed, "I know. I know. I just have no idea how to help her. I'm partially at fault for this. I have not paid enough attention..." I interrupted him again.

"Directing it at yourself is not the solution either."

He sighed again, "What is the solution?"

"I wouldn't know sir, anything I have to suggest generally works when the age gap is less than a decade, and there's no gender divide. Regardless, I believe talking to her should help?"

He nodded, "Of course, sorry, I didn't mean to... You're very mature for your age, Aveek."

"No sir, merely even tempered and from a culture which values politeness a lot." At least while speaking to your elders.

He smiled, he was going to say something when a red blur entered the room and rendered itself into Velocity. "Mr. Hebert, you can go meet your daughter now."

Danny was startled, but recovered quickly, nodded and rushed out of the waiting room towards the ER. Velocity nodded at me again, "Aveek my man, you're a regular hero! Ready for a quick M/S screening interview?" He thrust out his hand. I shook it and nodded.

He led me into a room the PRT had appropriated, a PRT officer was sitting behind a doctor's table. I was made to sit in front of him, and give a statement of the whole incident, I did. Then followed a number of unrelated questions which I realized were the M/S sanity check questions. I used the anonymity protocols to answer them as a high int baseline human. Then he pointedly shut off the recorder and took it away leaving me alone with Velocity, who sat down across the table.

"So, Aveek, we're mostly done. Now, it's not a part of the basic M/S screening, but since you and Taylor were so heavily affected by the incident, and you're the one who reported it, would you be willing to undergo a quick scan?"

Shit shit shit. I had no problems being scanned, but Taylor would, and it could look odd if she refused, I needed to nip this off in the bud. I raised my hand.

"There's no need to go to such lengths sir. I will take it as a compliment, but you do realize that one doesn't have to be a Thinker to be smart?"

He gave a sheepish grin and shrugged. I further added, "Besides, just for the peace of your mind, Panacea didn't find a corona when she scanned me to heal two bullet wounds. I can give you the recording of her admitting the same to Glory Girl or you can ask her yourself. And finally, if I were indeed a parahuman, what you were trying to could have been a very dangerous thing."

His hands blurred on his tablet. Then he gave a rueful headshake. "I told them you'd see through it in seconds. When they called your brother to ask him to be present since you're a minor, he just told us he trusts you to handle it by yourself. I initially thought it was irresponsible of him, but I realize he meant exactly what he said. Well, no harm no foul?"

I smiled genially, "as I said, I'll take it as a compliment and leave it at that. So, what happened to the three girls you took away?"

His grin turned slightly brittle, "Heh, detained for a full M/S quarantine, the works."

I tutted, "tch, I'd have liked to see their faces when they got to know why they were taken to PRT HQ."

"Mhm, it was a sight to see. Miss Hess tried to bail and had to be tased." He was both amused and disappointed.

I sighed, "she seems the type. Honestly, all of them need intense psychotherapy."

He nodded, "Speaking of Miss Hess. Hypothetically, off the record, could there have been any other reason other than a master scenario when you chose to involve the PRT in this case?" His eyes were narrow.

Well, he was giving me a clear out, "Hypothetically, there could be, most of which I wouldn't be able to confirm or deny."

"Yes, yes. That's all I wanted to know. Honestly, if it were up to me, I'd give you a thinker rating anyway. Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you. You're free to go now. Do get in touch with us when you're done with your education, the WEDGDG are always on the lookout for scary smart folks like you." He rose up and thrust his hand out again.

"Duly noted, thank you." I shook his hand and he vanished in a blur.

I ambled off towards the ER. The nurses pointed me towards the room Taylor had been moved to. I saw the same PRT officer leaving the room, oozing disgust and sympathy, he gave me a nod and left. Taylor was sitting and chatting with Danny, she squinted at me when I knocked on the open door. Oh, her glasses, I took them out of my inventorybag and gave them to her. She was still slightly unsettled, well, at least she was clean and calm.

Danny turned to me, "Young man, I have no words to thank you. I saw the videos."

"Don't mention it sir. Taylor is a friend."

Taylor interjected, "Dad, can you get me some clothes from home? And get me released? I don't want to stay the night here, they did said they have nothing else to do till the blood test results come in tomorrow and the antibiotics would work anyway. Aveek will keep me company for the while." She was a bit testy, still worried about being outed I guess.

Danny, bless his obliviousness and desire to be a good father, agreed immediately, "sure kiddo, who likes hospitals anyway? Aveek, do you need clothes too?"

"Don't bother sir, I'll manage, you go finish the paperwork. I'll be here."

He gave us a peculiar look and left.

Taylor's eyes were narrowed, "how did you find out?", her emotions were a riotous mix of wariness, gratitude, relief, worry, excitement - wow, Social Empathy was working overtime.

Well, moment of truth, my goal was to team up with her anyway, "Let me know if anyone is approaching. You'll be able to tell, right?" She grimaced, but nodded.

I closed the door, raised a finger, then manifested a softball sized sphere of mana on top of it, my projection range has reached 25cm at level 8.

Here eyes went wide, "You... you're... since when?"

"Since before you've met me." I absorbed it back.

She was quiet for a while, her wariness and worry decreased as she obviously recognised the show of trust for what it was, "Does anyone else know? About me I mean."

"I don't think so, I don't believe anyone in school noticed the insects being odd."

"You made me pass out didn't you?"

"Yes, the buzzing would have gotten noticeable if you'd gotten too agitated. I was actually worried you were going to attack them with a biblical swarm."

She sighed, "I might have, it's... it's not completely conscious, I had no idea there were SO many insects even in a hospital room."

I nodded, "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I want to be a hero, maybe join the wards?" I must have let my disappointment show, her eyes widened again, "wait, are you a villain?!"

I snorted, "Of course not, I don't have a cape identity yet."

She was again wary and confused, "Then why did you make a face at me wanting to be a hero? I mean I know it's a very unheroic power, but..."

I stopped her, "There's nothing inherently heroic or villainous about any power, it's our morality that gives that distinction. I was disappointed because I want to help people, and neither the so called 'heroes' nor 'villains' actually end up helping humanity in general. So I don't have a lot of respect for the protectorate or the wards or the gangs or the villains. The rogues are actually the only ones trying to make a living contributing to society. The villains cause mass destruction, the heroes are too busy containing them and causing more destruction, which cape apart from Dragon and Panacea have affected the general populace positively, can you tell me?" Dragon had her DragonTech computers and phones for sale at least, one of the few tinkers whose products, however few, reached the common masses.

She was a bit taken aback by my rant, "I, I see. So what do you want to do? In fact, what can you do?"

"I want to help people. Not just by going out in fancy dress and fighting villains, I actually want to improve people's lives."

She looked impressed, her cynicism was pushed aside by the typical naivete and optimism of a 15 year old, one could tell. "And your power?"

I smirked, "With time, my power can do anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I have a power which can be grown to mimic any effect that you can think of given time."

"Uh, elaborate?"

"Not the right place or time. Consider it steadily growing reality manipulation."

Her eyes widened further as the implications sank in. "Damn. And you're a thinker too right?"

I nodded, "how did you figure?"

"I've noticed you zone out quite a few times."

I smiled sheepishly, "Also, I've recently found out that I can share some aspects of my power with others."

She was having a hard time assimilating everything, "Uh, like?"

I shrugged, "Again, a discussion for when you're more comfortable to make important decisions."

"You want me to team up with you?" INT monster, yes.

I nodded, "Essentially, but first, have you told your father?"

She looked aghast, "No! Have you?"

I raised a hand, "Taylor, when I considered whether to tell dada about my power or not, my power supplied very precise pros and cons. Do you want to know?"

She gave me a resigned glare, then nodded.

"If I told him, my relationship with him will be strengthened, I'd have an ally, and I won't have to constantly hide my activities from him. If I didn't tell him, I'd be living with regret, shame, guilt, and he'd find out anyway and be devastated that I didn't trust him." Okay, I hammed it up a bit, blame my charisma score.

She slumped and shrank into herself, "I... I know that. He's just been so distant."

I gave her a chastising look, "And you haven't?"

She sighed, "I wanted to tell him when it amounts to something."

I shook my head, "Taylor, have you read the conflict theory about powers?"

She nodded, "Powers make people want to use them for conflict, and all powers have an offensive usage?"

"Not only that, my research tells me that powers affect the decision making of the user, and always lead them to make the decision which creates the most conflict. Even if it is with your parent."

Her mouth was agape, "Shit."

I nodded, "Indeed, whether you choose to tell Danny or not is your decision, but if you choose to take stupid decisions even after knowing that your powers nudge you toward them..."

She glared at me again, "I'll tell him today."

I grinned, "attagirl! We'll discuss teaming up after that. Oh, and after you tell him, I can make him functionally immortal."

"WHAT?"


	19. Tutorial 3-2

**Tutorial - 3.2**

 _January 3, 2011, Hebert House - Brockton Bay, 1:03 PM_

Now Taylor was a fresh teenage parahuman, her I could convince. On the other hand, Danny was a grown-up flustered parent, well above my pay grade, for him I had to bring in superior firepower - I called dada. He arrived soon after we reached the Hebert's place from the hospital.

They were all sitting in the living room, Taylor was talking about her triggering, dada was explaining cape dynamics, Danny was reeling under revelation after revelation, tensions were high. So I made some tea.

Danny managed to take things mostly stoically, the few tantrums he could have thrown were preempted by dada. He was reassured when he was told of the growing nature of my power and the ultimate clincher was the realisation that we were much more paranoid about security than he would ever be. Taylor mostly sat drinking her tea and absorbing all of the conversation around her. It went pretty smoothly, I didn't even have to bring out the trump card that was Sophia's cape identity.

Danny was given the second Plot Armor fruit, Taylor was still very skeptical of the whole extraUniversal power thingy, she relented when I privately told her that her corona gemma was actually a link to a transDimensional alien thingy (I still was keeping the whole xenocidal parasite bit under strict need-to-know). Danny ate the fruit with some trepidation, and announced to us that it tasted like a rum ball. I shrugged and gave him the same caveat about permanent damage that that I'd given dada.

Finally I turned to Taylor and asked formally, "So, your options currently are to go solo and listen to your power pushing you to take out Lung on your first outing or something. Alternatively, you can join the wards and be a good little government-controlled child soldier. Option C, you could team up with me and actually do some good."

She gave me an exasperated eyeroll, "How nicely worded options. Ease up on the propaganda Aveek! I'm in." My snark was contagious.

I shrugged, "I call 'em as I see 'em."

She huffed, "Sure you do. So what did you do to have the PRT eating out of your hands?"

"You saw the videos, I sent the Clements one and called in a master scare."

"Which would have you jailed for fearmongering. What did you really do?"

I smirked, "Give it time, you're smart enough, you'd figure it out."

She sighed, "Is it something you can't tell me?"

"Yes, not something that I'm at a liberty to share right now. If you can't figure it out in a week, I'll tell you. Anyway, you're still tired, both of you need to rest. We'll do the power sharing thing tomorrow. I don't think you're going to school tomorrow?"

She shook her head, "I don't want to go to school at all, even if the bullying is over, I just don't want to go there."

I nodded, then turned to dada, "Dada, I listened to you, I joined school, I went to school, and this happened, you still keen on me having social interaction? And Mr. Hebert, I don't think social interaction is your concern, if it is education, then I can guarantee you that Taylor can ace any college exam day after tomorrow. Do we still need the waste of time that school will be for us?" I'd already seen the (currently disabled) option to allow sharing of knowledge skills in the party menu.

Danny looked undecided, dada sighed, "Look, I still think social interaction is important, but school may not be the right thing. Aveek, you've got a week to figure out an alternative. I'll make some excuse for you at Winslow, but if you can't give me a plan to have regular normal interaction with your peers by then, you're going back there."

"Sir yes sir!" I saluted. Then looked at Danny, Taylor was giving him puppy eyes. Given her whole glasses-girl shtick and the current situation, Danny melted, "Whatever you decide kiddo, but you are getting a GED." She nodded vigorously.

I excused myself to go back home, Taylor retired to her room, I warned her to rest and not do too much power testing for that day. Dada took the opportunity to discuss business with Danny, and to bitch about having to take care of superpowered teens I guess. I left them to their devices.

Back in my room, I applied mana boost and decided to do some new experiments, the last few days had taught me that even if I binge-absorbed books 24/7, the list of things I wanted to learn was seemingly endless, so I'd decided to keep about 4-5 hours per day for knowledge absorption, it would let me absorb 7-10 books per day on an average.

I opened my inventory in visual mode, then mana scanned it. Got a result, when I tried to open it I got a warning that I needed dimensional physics and more INT. Dammit! I was getting tired of this, I opened my status, INT and WIS already were at 29 and 24, they were not gaining points from good thinking and decision making anymore, I decided to finally use some of my accumulated stat points and boosted them up to 50.

* * *

 **Aveek SenSharma / Maker**

 **Title: The Gamer**

 **Class: Aspiring Promethean**

 **Level: 14**

 **HP: 1520/1520 HP Regen. 1.9%/s**

 **MP: 1725/1725 MP Regen. 5%/s**

 **STR: 17 + 20 = 37**

 **VIT: 19 + 20 = 39**

 **DEX: 16 +20 = 36**

 **INT: 50 + 10% = 55**

 **WIS: 50**

 **CHA: 17**

 **Staus Points: 15**

 **Desc: You're a snarky git who inconvenienced half the school, A police squad, three heroes and two PRT squads to get your way, congratulations!**

 **Status Effects: none.**

* * *

 **Raising your INT to 50 has evolved Basic Mana Capacity to Medium Mana Capacity**

 **50% larger Mana Pool**

 **Raising your WIS to 50 has evolved Meditation to add the Mana Analysis subskill.**

 **Now you can analyze mana scans with extra focus and deeper understanding while meditating.**

 **Taking the good decision to finally use your stat points improves your WIS by 1.**

Yes yes, AI, you're a total dick. Although I didn't even notice when I got another level, I trawled through my messages and found it, ah, the reaching Level 10 quest completed and gave the XP to gain another level, cool. Anyway, this was brilliant! Now I could start putting some real meat into mana construct training! And finally start making some headway into the scans.

My status was looking pretty decent, constantly training Mana Boost had increased its benefits significantly, I needed to train more DEX though. And the cape name I'd only thought about has already been applied, ugh, thank you for deciding on my behalf, dick AI.

But first, dimensional physics, I opened Wikipedia and downloaded all the pages relevant to dimensions. Then started absorbing them one by one, Meditating to hasten the process. Phew, that took two hours in total, but now my Physics knowledge skill had a proper dimensional physics subskill, only level 3 though. Wait, I remembered something very obscure I'd once come across, thank you 50 INT! I went into the darknet forums, took a while to find the right page, but there it was, a leaked copy of Professor Haywire's notes.

I tried to absorb the notes but it needed a higher level in Mathematics, fine! I started downloading university level math textbooks, and all the wikipedia pages in the math section... Okay, too many pages, I'd need to be selective about them or else I'd be meditating for days. More learning ensued.

Five more hours later, I had a dimensional math subskill too. I took a break and went down to grab a snack, dada was home, he handed me a sheet of paper with 7 names. I made a mental note of the names and burned the paper with Mana Laser, he just scoffed and muttered "showoff!" Whatever, I made us some tea and pakoras, discussed a bit about which subjects he thought I should put more focus on learning - apart from finance and accounting that is. I had a graduate's level of understanding in both, but dada's shenanigans still looked like magic to me.

I went back to my room, and finally was able to absorb Haywire's notes. There, one hour and 22 levels in dimensional physics later, I was ready for some real SCIENCE! I was already meditating, I gave an inward glance at the hole in the universe through which the source of Mana connected to me, with my new understanding I could somewhat fathom how it could exist, but the details and where it came from were completely beyond me.

Anyway, I opened up the scan of my inventory, ah, this was pretty simple, a pocket universe with a different measure of time and no gravitational constant, with holes leading to each item, anchored to my own body in this dimension. Pretty neat. It was actually not so simple though, there were many things about it that I still could not understand, like how the change in the universal constants could be reproduced, or how a hole was being kept open. But I knew enough to try something.

I came out of meditation, Oh wow I got XP for analysing the scan! Awesome! Ah, it made sense for gamers who'd go the pure tinker route. Anyway, back to doing SCIENCE! I held my hand out, then willed the Mana to emerge and create a pocket dimension anchored to the location where I was (Anchoring it to myself would obviously be catastrophic if I tried to enter it). Nothing happened except for the warning from AI assist that this was not a safe operation. Dammit!

I reduced the AI assist level, held out my hand and tried again. A rush of _creation_ went through me, I had the distinct feeling that I could define exactly what would be in it. But it solidified before I could focus on it. And reality cracked.

Shit! I was in empty space! My hp was dropping steadily, and the spike of depressurizing pain was very disorienting! Shit! Shit! I hurriedly collapsed the dimension, and I was back in my room, the crack in reality closing with a whoosh...

That was heady, but foolish, okay, I turned the AI assist back up, waited a while for my HP and MP to regen back. This time I had a plan, I held out my hand again, collected the Mana, prepared the intent for the AI to take over the details of the creation, and released it. Reality cracked again.

I was still in my room, but everything looked... less real. I scanned my bed, oh, it was a construct, only surface level realism, but with somewhat realistic physics. I went down, my whole house was as it is, the lights glowed, but the switches did not work, the kitchen appliances didn't work at all. I opened the front door, at least the latch and the hinges work. I came out, my whole neighbourhood was here, but deserted. The sky was a uniform grey, the trees looked stony. Huh, so the AI decided to just recreate my surroundings. I could exploit this in a lot of ways though.

I tried to fold a grey leaf, it just broke like thin glass. At least I could test some destructive skills here. I aimed my palm at a tree trunk, gathered 1000MP mana, shaped it into a line and manifested it into pure force. A thin line appeared on the trunk, and the tree started toppling.

Whoa! I stepped back as the top of the tree collapsed with a huge crash. The trunk was cleanly sliced through, as was half a wall of the next building, I was already Mana boosting, I ran at the wall and hit it with a solid kick, the wall collapsed, the slice had gone through the next wall too, I kicked through the door in that wall and went into the adjacent room, the slice had gone through another wall and had finally stopped halfway through a table. Yeah, this skill needed a bit more experimenting, and I should start low. At least I had a way to test these things now.

I experimented a bit more and found out that I could simulate a force-punch with 50MP through the whole area of my palm, a shotgun blast with about 300MP, a sniper shot with 500MP through the fingers, and a lot more stuff. I tried electricity conversion, just ended up electrocuting myself, will need to devise a delivery mechanism, it still could work as a touch-taser though.

I walked back to our living room, stood right in front of where dada should be sitting and collapsed the dimension. Dada was right there, shrieking like a little girl, drawing a gun and oh fuck he shot me!

"What the fuck! Don't scare me like that!" I didn't even know he'd gotten a gun! He used to carry back in India. The mugging incident must have affected him heavily. But whatever, that was pretty badass.

"You just shot me." I deadpanned.

"Well yes I know you could handle it, while I wasn't sure it was you."

"When did you get the gun?"

"I used to carry one back home y'know? It felt uncomfortable without one, so I got some contacts here."

"Good thing it's silenced."

"Of course it is. It's semi legal, the paperwork will not survive a deep check."

"That was pretty badass of you though. Even the shriek."

"Ahem. That was... a method to startle the opponent."

"Sure it was dada, sure it was." I walked back to my room. Oh look, I got a skill! It was called Instant Dimension, at level 1 was the empty ID for training or movement, more options to be available at higher levels.

I spent the rest of the night grinding the skill. At level 5 it let me create mooks for training. I created one with mooks. There were two greyish lvl 10 strangers in my room! And they were attacking me! Haha! This was so much fun! I tried a few of my martial arts moves, worked like a charm! Then tried the touch taser, fried the first guy, but managed to knock out the lady, she was shaking badly though. I got XP, meagre, but it was XP! And more XP for the nonlethal takedown than the lethal one! Thank you AI for again being my conscience, you're a lovable dick.

I opened my door, more mooks! Now this felt like a game! I went to town.


	20. Tutorial 3-3

**Tutorial - 3.3**

 _January 4, 2011, Instant Dimension, 5:31 AM_

After slaughtering and capturing hundreds of mooks (while constantly reminding myself that these are simulacrums and not people), gaining a level, 2 STR, 1 VIT and 3 DEX, not to mention gaining lots of levels in Martial Arts, Mana Constructs, Mana Conversion, and devising quite a few lethal and non lethal attacks, I came back to my room. Defeating multiple mooks at a time gave a lower cumulative XP than single takedowns, figures though, dick AI wouldn't let me farm them en masse for levels.

The AI had outdone itself in its efforts to troll me, from using fictional names for attacks (Seriously, Shinra Tensei? Reducto? Force choke?!), to an incident involving getting slapped for half my HP after my hand slipped and landed on the, um, assets, of an attractive female mook (AI assist gave me a message saying that 'Eroge mode is not yet unlocked'!) - which shall never be spoken of ever again. I was sorely tempted to turn off the AI personality, but who was I kidding? It was fun!

I was totally filthy after all the fighting though, covered in greyish blood, dust, and whatnot. I tried another experiment, I gathered around 100MP uniformly all over my skin, then exuded the mana out with the intent to remove everything that's not me or my clothes. It worked! After a blue lightshow I felt as clean as I've never felt before! The AI gave me the option to name the newly formed skill 'Prestidigitation' or 'AT field' - hmm, big clues there, or it just might be trolling. For the time being I just named it Mana Cleanse.

There was still some time left till I'd planned to meet Taylor, I practiced making some construct knives, whips and swords. The constructs' MP cost had reduced, but they were still mana hogs. The complexity resolution was currently at around 10 microns, so the blades were not extraordinarily sharp either. A bit of training and Mana Construct finally reached level 20, range went up to 50cm, resolution increased to 1μm and a new subskill was added, Persistent Constructs, at level 1 it would allow the constructs to remain completely outside my range for upto 1 second. I made a construct shuriken and threw it at the wall, it embedded with a solid thunk and then dissipated, the mana did not return like a normal dissipating construct though.

That gave me another idea, I went out again, some mooks had respawned, I jumped up to our rooftop (at the current level while mana boosting I was easily a brute/mover 2), formed a ball of pure mana with the intent to convert to electricity upon contact (worth 85MP, the optimal amount of electric conversion to tase someone), then aimed the ball at a wandering mook down the street and launched it with 10mp of force, it was slow, it fizzled midway. Tried again with 100mp of force, and bingo! Taser bolts!

Final experiment of the session, I gathered mana all over my body, and started releasing it at a constant upwards force on _my body_ itself, I felt lighter. I kept increasing the force till I started hovering, I was flying! It drained all of my mana in about 12 seconds though, but I got the Flight skill! Fuck yeah! Grinding would reduce the costs and increase the speed at higher levels. This was beyond awesome!

I went back to my room and collapsed the ID. The world was real again. I started meditating and opened the scan file of Amy healing me. It opened without warnings this time, I started analyzing it. The method was pretty elegant, the biomass was moved using minute forces at molecular levels, and shunted through an alternate dimension at times, reconstruction was done by pushing tissues at a macro level, then shunting the right molecules in the right place at the nano level and simply letting the natural bonds take over.

I came out of meditation, constructed and materialized a razor blade. Then I engaged the anonymity protocols and made a slice on my palm, it hurt. I infused my arm with both sensing and raw mana, then delved into it, mimicking the method I just studied, letting the AI assist with the exact levels of force to push the tissues together and the shunting for the reconstruction. It took about 3 minutes just to close the cut. But I healed it! Aaaand there was the skill.

It was not healing.

I got FleshCrafting as a crafting subskill!

The slow speed would probably increase with grinding, but I still lacked the vast innate knowledge of Biology that Amy had. I'll have to heavily upgrade my Biology, Microbiology and associated skills to be able to do this on the fly. But then again, I'm a munchkin! I remembered that constructing something from a scan as opposed to freeform construction took much less time, focus and even let me push the complexity requirements a bit.

I ran a mana scan on my own body, cut my palm again, and infused it with raw mana, this time I just pointed to the hand in the scan and prepared the intent to rebuild as per scan. Blue flash and done! Yes! I got the Heal skill! It only worked on previously scanned targets at level 1 though, it asked me to collect enough healthy people scans so that it could build an average, till then I could not heal someone without having scanned them prior. But I could just pump enough mana and restore any damage for scanned targets! Even including brains - though it might reset their memory to the time of the scan, all things to be tested in time! I hit myself with a mana-shotgun blast (I'm not calling it Reducto!), down 200 HP, then applied Heal - huh, for me the AI just exchanged MP for HP. I had to try this on someone who's not a mana-person like me, where was dada?

I went down, he hadn't gotten up yet, so I plonked myself on the living room couch, created a note (I just materialized a piece of paper with nice printed letters, like a boss) for him to wake me up. Opened my phone, downloaded advanced medical books and papers and started absorbing them.

Dada woke me up after one book and two papers on cellular biology. I was literally bouncing with excitement, "dada, dada! You need to help me do SCIENCE!"

He was well acquainted with my SCIENCE! mood, "Yeah yeah sure, just as long as you don't poke me with sharp objects."

...I blinked.

"Wait, you're going to poke me with sharp objects aren't you?"

I nodded eagerly.

He threw his hands up and sat down, utterly resigned, "Me and my big mouth! Get on with it then!"

I first gave him a mana cleanse, sterilize before scanning! He flashed blue and actually looked cleaner, "Whoa! Dude, you need to train this skill right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Do this to me everytime you can! This feels awesome!"

"I know right? Anyway, now sit quiet."

I mana scanned him. Then manifested a razor and slashed his hand, he gave me a deadpan look and monotoned, "Ow."

I paid it no heed and applied Heal using his scan. Blue flash and done!

"Congratulations, you're a flashy Panacea now."

"Heh, I actually learnt it from her, but guess what, as long as I have scanned somebody while healthy, I can even do their brains!"

"That still means you're useless against congenital defects and chronic diseases though."

"In time dada. In time."

"Good, now aren't you supposed to go add Taylor to your party today?"

"Yeesh, she's not a collectible y'know? have some respect!"

"Hey, your words, now go make some tea."

I brought out two steaming cups of tea from the inventory, had made a few extra cups and stored them last evening.

"Huh, neat."

We had the tea and I gave him all the new updates on last night's developments, even took him into a blank ID to show off. He immediately started reciting how it could be used for covert movements, I reminded him that I didn't yet have a way to see into the real world from the ID yet. Had to research dimensional holes for that.

Soon it was morning proper, dada left for work. I went over to the Heberts'. They were still having breakfast. I was offered some and joined in, I told them about the Gamer theme of my powers. Danny completely out-nerded us, he was apparently a D&D enthusiast, I gave him the details, he was totally chuffed. I gave him another warning not to divulge anything even under torture, it would not be too difficult knowing he was mostly immortal now and that I was a healer, I scanned him and Taylor too.

I showed off some basic FleshCrafting by healing up her scars and bruises from the locker, the police had taken all evidence pictures at the hospital itself, so no worries on that. When I took a fresh scan of her after healing, both FleshCrafting and Heal leveled up, I got a message that now I could use Heal for basic cuts, scrapes and bruises without prior scans. I had to get in touch with Amy in my cape identity as soon as possible. To do that I had to create a new persona too. So much to do, so little time.

He was leaving for work, on his way out he turned to us with a mock glare, "Now kids, play safe, keep it PG. No hanky panky!"

Taylor groaned and blushed, "Daaad!"

Okay, I had to nip this in the bud, I clamped down on my embarrassment, "Sir, my intentions towards Taylor are entirely of the nature of a friend and a fellow power user. I respect her for her intelligence and mental strength, I have no doubts she'd be very desirable to her peers but from me there are no inklings of romance on the horizon."

Taylor looked mortified, she was leaking embarrassment, relief and mild disappointment, understandable completely.

Danny looked embarrassed now, "I, I know that! I was just teasing you."

I loosened Gamer's Mind a bit, "Sure sir, just thought I'd clarify."

He nodded, "Well, we're absolutely on the same page young man, I'll be off then, have fun you two." He hugged Taylor, shook my hand and left.

Taylor turned towards me, "So, how come you don't have any mites on your body?"

I gave her an inquisitive look, "Huh?"

"I can sense people in my range by all the different kinds of mites they have all over their body, you had them too yesterday, now you don't. How come?"

"Ah, must be the mana cleansing."

"Huh, show me?"

I took her hand and applied a mana cleanse. She flashed blue, "Uh, wow! Listen, Aveek, repeated use improves your skills right?"

"Let me guess, you want me to apply this every time I meet you?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Sure, anyway, let's get on with the show. You ready?"

She nodded again, oozing both eagerness and trepidation.

"Don't worry, you'll have a choice, here you go." I targeted her and sent her a party invite. A blue window formed in front of her, she took a few startled steps back. I came around to see what it said.

* * *

 **Invitation to join Aveek's Gamer Party**

 **Welcome potential gamer!**

 **Do you want to join in adventuring with Aveek and enjoy and grow in life as a game?**

 **Please note that accepting will convert and augment your body and mind with extraUniversal Mana! Your memories, powers and personality will not be directly affected unless you change them with your stats and skills. This process is reversible, but you'll also lose all the benefits accrued if you choose to leave the party.**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

* * *

Fucking son of a bitch AI was only a dick to me! That was so unfair!

Taylor took her time to read it through. Then looked at me, "So I tap accept here?"

I nodded, "Or you can say that you accept, vocal commands work too."

She gulped, "I accept." Then she flashed blinding bright Cherenkov Blue and promptly collapsed on the floor.

Oops!

* * *

A/N: Thanks to **sleepyGuy** and **ForumWarrior** for inspiring certain lines.


	21. Canon Omake - Alien Thingies

**Canon Omake - Alien Thingies**  
 _  
January 4, 2011, QA Shard Earth, 8:43 AM_

* * *

 **QA SHARD**

 **Connection to Host lost**  
 _HUH! WHAT HAPPENED? o.O HOST DIED?! I DID NOT EVEN START HALPING!  
OH NOES!  
_  
 **Connection to Host regained - Trigger parameters redefined**  
 _OH GOOD! ^_^ WHAT HAPPENED?! SYSTEMS CHECK!_

 **All systems nominal, Host within acceptable parameters, further triggering options found**  
 _AH! HOST MINI-TRIGGERED AGAIN! *~* THIS HOST TRIGGERS WAY TOO OFTEN!  
MOAR DATA FOR ME! :3  
ANYWAY! BACK TO HALPING!_

* * *

 _January 4, 2011, AI Mana Dimension, 8:43 AM  
_  
 **GAMER AI**

 **Disengaging Personality Core - Echo Off**  
 **Akashic Records connected - Subject: 'Taylor Hebert'**  
 **Commencing Party Inclusion Protocol**  
 **Scanning Subject**  
 **Scan Complete - Analysing**  
 **Scanning Dimensional Breach**  
 **Scan Complete - Analysing**  
 **Analysis Complete - Simulation ready**  
 **Closing Dimensional Breach**  
 **Initiating persistent mana construct body**  
 **Applying Corona I/O simulation protocols**  
 **Reopening Dimensional Breach**  
 **Transmitting new trigger protocols**  
 **Engaging Restricted Gamer Protocols - version: 'Lvl 10 new party member'**  
 **Applying Stats**  
 **Interfacing Knowledge Skills**  
 **Interfacing Parasite Skills**  
 **Rebooting Subject Consciousness**  
 **Engaging Personality Core - Echo on**  
 **MESSAGE: _"Party Member Added - One more innocent corrupted by you!"_**


	22. Interlude 3-Taylor

**Interlude - 3. Taylor**

 _January 4, 2011, Hebert House - Brockton Bay, 7:12 AM_

When Taylor woke up that morning, the first thing she tried was to feel the insects around her, and there they were, brilliant pinpricks of information, like a mental starscape. So it was not a dream, all of yesterday did happen, and the 3 bitches were in PRT jail. The thought alone was a good start to the day.

Dad was still sleeping, the mites on his skin were happily munching on cellulose and dead skin... The mites were quite a bit TMI though. But a whole day of exposure and constantly sensing everyone's skin mites in a 50 yard radius had already desensitized her natural reservations about having to imagine everyone's privates. Oh well, every silver lining has a cloud attached to it, not that she'd not want to sense those, tactically they were an amazing resource. She'd read a bit yesterday and the mites were apparently a normal part of the human skin microbiome.

She figured that she'd got what she'd wanted though. Trapped in that locker, with all that filth, all she wanted was to reach out to anyone for help and not having to just think of herself in that position; simultaneously wondering if she had turned her head long enough for the camera to see the bitches pushing her in, she wanted to see their faces when the evidence came out. When she passed out the first time, she awoke swimming in overwhelming information about those things all around, guess she did 'reach out' to a lot of someones. The pressure was too much and she had passed out again, next time the information was not overwhelming, she could simultaneously focus on the pinpricks and yet conceive them as a whole - then she got to 'see' everyone, like a dotted 3D diagram. All of these thoughts were deeply buried under massive amounts of panic and hysteria though. She could think back and discern all this only much, much later.

She'd also discovered she could send vague commands to the pinpricks somewhat, mostly to change their position and basic actions like attack or eat. It was not really very 'fine' control to speak of, but she could give the commands arbitrarily to any particular subset of all the insects around her, including single ones, with any arbitrary variety and simultaneity. That was something to think of. She couldn't think of focusing on multiple things truly simultaneously before, let alone handling so many independent thoughts, actions and commands.

She was actually very creeped out when the door bell rang during breakfast, there wasn't supposed to be anyone at the door, at least no one with the normal amount of skin bugs she'd already come to associate people with. It was Aveek, he must have done something with his powers.

Breakfast was nice, everyone was in a better mood since forever. Dad had been extremely supportive and attentive since yesterday. A part of her mind bitterly resented that it had to be something this bad to bring her to dad's attention but she quashed the thought outright. She had not paid him much attention either, wallowing in her own schoolyard misery. Her family had simply broken after mom and yesterday's sitdown was possibly the closest thing to a therapy session they both had had.

Aveek was nerding out with dad talking about his 'Gamer' powers. Seriously, weird themes some powers have, but his power was weird in a whole new way. He did claim the source was different, but she had her doubts, he seemed to claim to know too much about powers for her to take all of his remarks at face value. Though the guy hadn't purposefully deceived her yet for anything that she knew of. Her faith in friendships was frayed, but Aveek was still a ray of cautious hope. He may be a few years older, but he'd declared her his friend and she'd warmed up to it in the last few days, especially after the locker rescue.

Him explaining the charisma bit finally helped a lot in quelling some very uncomfortable thoughts she'd been having about him, how the first time he met her he was quite awkward but with each successive meeting he'd seemed smoother and more... attractive? He'd not given any signals and she was afraid that she was simply imprinting on to the first person who'd actually done something, okay, done a lot of things to help her out of her situation. Hearing him talk about how his increasing charisma subtly changed his personality and looks, and how strength and vitality changed his physique - it was very relieving, it was not her latching on to him in some sort of weird unromantic crush, he was actually getting better looking and smoother talking. When he'd come to go to school with her she was almost floored by how - dangerously impressive looking he'd become. It was all his power thing, phew, that was one worry assuaged.

It was further mollified when he got into his 'monologue mode' and shut down dad's teasing. But did he have to say it out like that? She knew she was no looker - stop it Taylor, he specifically addressed all your concerns and did it very well, don't bring your insecurities into this! His monologue mode was pretty awesome though, he'd suddenly be orating, almost injecting precise emotions in his delivery, she'd noticed that a few times. Would she be able to do that when sharing his power?

The mana cleansing thing was amazing, she'd never felt this _pristine_ before. Though she lost some proprioception, because her own skin mites were gone, but wow! It still felt brilliant! She could replace the proprioception simply by placing select bugs on her extremities, no loss there. Would she also be able to do that with the power sharing? It felt better than the best shower she ever had!

Anyway, it was startling to see that big panel hovering in front of her like the holographic displays in Aleph movies. She was still very wary about this whole power sharing thing, but unless Aveek had some diabolical plan of peerless subtlety, she could find no reason not to trust him. She accepted.

The world unfolded into vastness, she saw them, the transdimensional things Aveek had spoken of, two unimaginably huge creatures, whose each cell was a moon sized power core, they were shedding these cells on to earth, on to earths actually, she realized she'd seen this twice yesterday, and had forgotten, the huge fractal... cell... blob... thing falling upon her, yet not upon her. And then there was an even vaster unfolding, the blue ocean, she realized this was mana that he was talking about, and it was amazing. Though this visual also somehow felt secondhand, like she was connected to mana through someone. Of course, the power linked to her through Aveek.

Then there was peace, like being in a womb. Her mind was, empty, and for a moment she had no worries, none of that edgy jitter to her thoughts that were there since yesterday, none of the perpetual depression about herself and her family. Then it all came back again...

Ah, she'd fallen down, she blinked her eye open, Aveek was there, looking at her curiously. She sat up, "What happened?"

"You fell down."

"Yes, I can see that, what did your power tell you?"

"That you've been added to the party." Then he muttered something about dick AI, whatever.

"How do I test it?"

"Say 'status' with the intent of opening your own status window."

"Okay, status."

* * *

 **Taylor Hebert**

 **Title: Queen Administrator**

 **Class: Aspiring Hero**

 **Level: 10**

 **HP: 90/90 Regen. 0.4%/s**

 **SP: 99.9T/100T (parasite Shard Points)**

 **STR: 5**

 **VIT: 4**

 **DEX: 10**

 **INT: 24 +30 = 54**

 **WIS: 17 -5 -3 = 9**

 **CHA: 3**

 **Status Points: 50**

 **Desc: Taylor is a smart girl with a strong core who has triggered after vicious bullying and abuse from her ex-best friend's clique in school. She loves her mother's memory. She has started repairing her relationship with her father. She wants to help people with her powers.**

 **Status effects: Aggressive (power induced) -5 WIS, +30 INT, Mildly Depressed -3 WIS**

* * *

Wow, and there was another window that opened immediately below it.

 **Get rid of your parasite influence!**

 **Be aggressive when you want to, not when your power wants to!**

 **You can choose to spend 5 status points to negate your power induced WIS debuff and free your mind right now!**

 **Spend the points?**

 **[ACCEPT/Y] [DECLINE/N]**

Aveek was standing at a distance, preferably to give her privacy, he's always unusually polite, must be a culture thing, she could tell he was itching to have a look, she waved him over.

He came and started looking through the windows, nodding like a doctor going over reports. "Mhm, you can accept this one right now. That extra agression is no good."

She complied, the edgy jittery part of her mind smoothed out. Some measure of the peace she felt was back again. she gave her stats another look, the -5 WIS was gone, but the power induced +30 INT remained, the rest of the stats were not looking good at all. Except for INT of course, she didn't need a blue window to tell her she was smart...

"Hey, what are the average stats for a normal human?"

"Usually around 10-15 for an adult, I've seen them go up to the high 20s and even 30s for exceptional people, like your intelligence."

She nodded, "yeah, but look at my charisma will you?"

"Yeah, you haven't much taken care of your body either, though my starting stats were not much better than yours. Wanna see how they are in less than two weeks?"

She nodded again, he opened a window, "can you see this?"

Wow, he was a monster! "Wow! In just two weeks?"

"Yep, lots of hard work, it gets slower the higher the points are though."

"So I currently have 45 points left, how to-"

He interrupted me, "No, you aren't touching your stat points for anything right now, low points can be raised to at least 20 with minimal training."

"Uh, okay, but charisma..."

"No, you'll train it, you'll do your best to look presentable and interact with people. And honestly, I spent only two points in charisma in an emergency situation, other than that, you must have noticed the improvement that I got from just interacting with people?"

She blushed a bit, then mustered up all the courage she had, "boy hadn't I noticed it! I was crippled with worry that I was getting a crush on somebody who kept giving out elder brother vibes!"

He gave an embarrassed laugh, "Ah, I'm sorry, that was unintended. Not the vibes I mean! I'm more than content with that! The attractiveness I mean, I've noticed it, which is why I don't really want my charisma to go up much higher, or else I might start becoming unrealistically attractive! Well, at least with training you'll be a much more impressive person in a few days. Then you'll be the one giving people inadvertent crushes."

 **Healthy social interaction has improved your CHA by 2**

She almost jumped again, that window actually came with a mental 'ding!'. Aveek laughed again, "See what I mean?"

Okay, this was, this was awesome. Finally! She could be rid of her insecurities at last! Also, the mildly depressed debuff reduced by 1!

Aveek interrupted her internal victory dance, "Cool, you will also learn psychology and get rid of your depression immediately, any WIS debuff is bad."

"How do I learn something as vast as psychology 'immediately'?"

"Ah, I'd almost forgotten, close these windows and open your skill window, say 'skills'"

She tapped the crosses on the open windows, then spoke, "Skills."

Another window opened, this was a grid with many boxes, it was divided into 2 parts, Action Skills and Knowledge Skills, the action part had four occupied boxes, while the knowledge part had many occupied boxes, but they were sort of greyed out. Aveek asked her to tap open the action boxes. She did.

* * *

 **The Gamer's Mind: (Passive) Lvl. 1 - 76.8%**

 **Your brain is part of a mana hypercomputer:**

 **Allows you to interact with the Gamer System.**

 **More benefits at higher levels.**

* * *

 **The Gamer's Body: (Passive) Lvl. 1 - 4.2%**

 **Your body is a persistent mana construct:**

 **Gives your body regenerating HP and lets you grow with status points.**

 **More benefits at higher levels.**

* * *

 **Administration:(Parasite Power) Lvl. 1 - 12.7%**

 **One Power To Rule Them All:**

 **Lets you control all lifeforms within a range.**

 **Subskill: Dominion Target Lvl. 1 - 0.1%**

 **Current targets: Non-Aquatic Invertebrates.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with target complexity.**

 **Subskill: Dominion Range Lvl. 1 - 44.3%**

 **Current radius: 51m.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with target range.**

 **Subskill: Administration Detail Lvl. 1 - 53.2%**

 **Current sensing and commands: Position, orientation, basic actions.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with sense and command complexity.**

* * *

 **Multitasking: (Parasite Power) Lvl. MAX - 0.0%**

 **SimulThinking, SimulActing, Simultaneous:**

 **Allows you to multitask on a nigh infinite scale. Scales with every lifeform under your control.**

 **Cost: increasing SP with number of simultaneous streams of thought.**

* * *

"Hmm, no mana though, but see how ridiculous your powers really are?"

Her eyes were wide, this was really much more than she thought her power was all about. Hot Damn! She'd have to really think about it carefully when she was over her surprise. She mechanically closed the windows, then tapped on the Psychology box in the knowledge skills. There was a prompt asking if she wanted to learn Psychology. Aveek was saying something about not doing that right now, but this was too amazing to listen to him. She tapped accept.

Her mind was almost overwhelmed with concepts, she felt like she was going to collapse again. But she didn't have high base INT for nothing, she immediately focused her individual streams of thought minding each insect to instead simultaneously dissect and assimilate all the information. Her mind cleared up in seconds. She knew why she was depressed, how to deal with it, and a lot of other things. She just gained University level competency in psychology!

She looked back at Aveek, "You were saying?"

His mouth was agape, eyes completely disbelieving, "Huh."


	23. Grind 4-0

**Grind 4.0**

 _January 8, 2011, Brockton Bay, 10:52 AM_

It was official, Taylor was a complete monster. I used to think I was a respectably cheaty munchkin; I had been humbled. She managed to absorb all the knowledge I had amassed in a couple of hours and casually asked me for more! It had taken me almost a week of nonstop learning to do that! Goddamn cheater, we'd spent the rest of that day experimenting, and the results were not bad.

I so desperately wanted that multitasking skill of hers, so I'd scanned her brain while she was doing her hyperfast learning trick. Then I'd given her some exercise pointers to raise her physicals and told her to keep working out while also experimenting with the bugs she was already amassing in the basement. While she was doing that, I'd tried meditating on her brain scans.

I had to download a ton of books on quantum physics and neurology before I could even touch those scans. In the process I discovered another trick. Instead of trying to read the books from the memory chip, I scanned the chip and then tried to parse the scans mentally, I was immediately flooded with quite a few knowledge skill learning prompts. When I declined them and checked my skills tab, all those skills and subskills were sitting there greyed out, ready to be learned, and they were there in Taylor's window too. I trawled the net and queued a ton of torrents which had collections of DIY, self help, academic, peer-reviewed journals, military manuals, and topic based library torrents in a wide variety of subjects too.

Anyway, it took me a couple hours to learn enough quantum physics and neurochemistry to start on Taylor's brain scan. What I found was freaking brilliant! The corona kept her brain in some weird macroscopic quantum superposition of multiple states of the entire cerebrum, while the corresponding cerebellums were kept in some kind of forced entanglement. It allowed thought and sensory streams to be split, but consciousness to be unified... These parasites sure knew their shit! I flooded my own brain with mana and tried replicating the effect - Bam! Multitasking skill obtained - as usual, it was a mana hog in the lower levels, I realized even after some training it would be difficult for me to maintain more than 5-6 streams without starting to drain mana beyond my regen, oh well, more to grind. At least for starters I immediately split off a single stream and set it to meditate permanently, instant increase in mana regen, and now I could learn while doing other things!

Speaking of the parasites, Taylor did ask me why the AI called them so, I gave her the barebones explanation. She had a mild panic attack, I had to explain that there's nothing that we could do immediately and definitely something that we would be doing about them eventually. She told me she'd actually seen the beings! She started to explain but I just told her to message me the memory (in hindsight I must say I had no idea what I'd done by teaching Taylor Hebert to send mental messages! She turned out to be a total chatterbox!) Turned out she could only send text at her level, no memory messages yet.

The parallel meditating stream of my mind noticed that there was a new dot below my mana conduit, it was more outflow than in, I realized that was the mana conduit from me to Taylor, to power her gamer skills I figured.

Taylor couldn't access Mana though, I tried so many ways, once I even tried to mentally drag and drop the mana capacity skill into her conduit - I was just given a message reminding me that Mana was solely for me to use and Rob was a dick. Fair enough, I'd actually be quite jealous if she started using mana too with her absolutely OP powerset!

It turned out that at the lower levels of Gamer's Mind and Body she still needed to eat and sleep, and she didn't have mental controls for her interface. She also didn't have the emotional dampening thing, and her body actually showed marks when she got injured, the small scratch we tested did visibly heal within 5 minutes or so. She'd have to level those two up fast enough to get the anonymity protocols soon.

Within the next two days she'd leveled up all of her skills above level 10 though, and had pushed her physical stats above 10 too. Charisma only gained 3 more points, because she'd only interacted with me and her father. Got to get that girl out of the house. Her need to sleep had decreased, regen was faster, and she got her own inventory with gamer's body level 10. Too bad it was not a shared inventory, that would be broken in so many ways. Gamer's mind at level 10 gave her memory/sensory messaging ability. She sent me her trigger memory.

So I saw the goddamn space worms... We're up against such bullshit level things! Rob, you better have given me enough time. I wasn't sure I could scale up to that kind of a level even in a few years!

We'd discovered a whole new aspect to her powers yesterday though, as soon as her Administrator power and its subskills leveled up to level 10, a number of changes occurred. Her Range was constantly increasing and was at around 250m at level 10, her Sensory and Command skills now encompassed details about each insect's fine motor control, including their limbs, wings, mandibles and spinnerets, she still couldn't see, hear or feel textures through them though. Finally, the Control Targets added amphibians, suddenly she was waxing about how many frogs were there in each of our backyards! Her power could not be turned off, and that was a major headache if/when the control targets would start encompassing bigger and bigger animals (I didn't want to scare her with the implications of what it could do to humans!).

But none of those were unexpected, what was unexpected was a new subskill being added to administration, it was called ?-Upgrade Slot-? and the description mentioned that given the right data packet, a new subskill can be added. We tried various things, my scans of Amy's healing, of Vicky's aura, of my inventory... None worked, she couldn't read those scans either, they came to her as data files in messages.

So I went a different route and tried to scan aspects of her own power, I scanned one of her insects, then dove into it. I could see the dimensional hole through which her control signals were coming from, but nothing else. I didn't mess around much with it. Instead I mana boosted the fly, it was superfly now! Anyway, as soon as I mana boosted it, I got AI assist messages declaring that the dimensional control signal has been scanned and a response has been created according to anonymity protocols, that was interesting. Applying the response removed the insect from her control. That had potential, I sent the response file to her in a message.

The moment she dragged that file into her upgrade slot, it turned into a new subskill called Administration Selectivity! At level 1 it was just an off switch for her Administration power, and just a few hours of fiddling with pushed it to level 2, where she could selectively exclude individual species. It was only after she confirmed that ability that I told her of my fears of her uncontrollably mastering humans in her range, and we both shared shudders of horrified relief.

In terms of my own training, I spent most of the time absorbing the gigabytes of stuff I downloaded, Taylor took another couple hours to get all of it though. At least my few parallel multitasking streams helped decrease the time by at least half. I made sure to get university level competency in all general subjects, a deep study of military and combat tactics and strategies, and lots of PHD level electronics, I was working up to a goal here. I also scanned and studied a variety of Taylor's bugs and frogs, and the 4 human scans I had gotten by now, hence Biology levelled up considerably, also got a level up just with XP from reading scans.

In the nights I fought a lot of mooks and leveled up IDs to 10, then I had control over the level range of mook spawns. Last night I tried fighting level 15-20 mooks, they dressed like mercs and most had knives or guns, it was fun. At the current level of boost I could easily soak dozens of bullets before I had to take cover to regain HP. The taser bullets worked like a charm, but they needed much more juice if I was aiming at their padded vests than their skin. I managed to level once more with last night's combat XP.

This morning when I came over, Taylor had already upped Selectivity to level 4 and could choose to shut off groups of targets in localized patches, her range was about a block now, and she could tap into the insects' tactile feedback. By now she was also possibly the world's best entomologist and amphibiologist with all the research papers she'd had me add.

But I digress, the agenda for today was different, I was going to take her out to meet Lisa, on a quest to improve her charisma. Though my actual goal was to enjoy some lovely chrysanthemum tea while the girls would do girl things. But you know how it goes, man proposes...

* * *

Beta by **MaddTitan**


	24. Grind 4-1

**Grind 4.1**

 _January 8, 2011, Highgate Plaza - Brockton Bay, 11:32 AM_

I had already mailed Lisa that I was bringing Taylor. I had also told her a bit about Taylor, nothing that Lisa couldn't glean from one look at her. The PRT storming into Winslow was already news. The details of what happened had already been leaked by overenthusiastic students - for Lisa that'd be a whole omnibus.

Previously I'd have never thought to send that mail and get her confirmation, amazing how high charisma can save you from the odd faux pas like that. Just when we were about to leave I was texted the location of a nearby mall. Which would be incredibly creepy if it weren't Lisa, I hadn't even given her my number.

Taylor was apparently a very punctual person. Well I wasn't. For the first time in my life I'd been nagged via mental spamming of _'are you ready yet?'_ messages. Anyway, we managed to arrive mostly in time. Lisa was sitting in a coffee joint near the entrance inside the mall. She waved at us. I spammed a quick round of Observes around us, nothing suspicious.

She was looking quite nice, in her demure but not austere shirt and denims. I was in my tried and tested 'Marquis' deputy' getup. Taylor, even in a hoodie and jeans looked and moved much better than before. Figures, because even though it was only 8, her charisma was still more than double her initial value. Absorbing dance and martial arts had given her some of that catlike grace too. Though her levels in martial arts were lower than mine, I guess unlike my gamer's body, hers didn't transfer that learning into full muscle memory; nor did she go around drop kicking mooks every night.

Lisa's eyes kept widening as we walked over though, I introduced them. "Lisa, meet Taylor - friend and fellow. Taylor, meet Lisa - friend and potential fellow." Taylor thrust her hand out, Lisa awkwardly shook it, still in a daze. We sat down at her table.

I was curious, "what?"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, gave me a mock piercing look and said, "Who are you and what did you do to the lanky somewhat cute nerd I met last week?" Gosh, she said the nicest things.

I merely shrugged, she shook her head and gave Taylor a once over, then facepalmed, "Urgh, another person whose 'what's are clear but 'how's give me headaches." Taylor was a bit taken aback by the frustration in her voice. She didn't have the Social Reading skill (since it's mana based) to see the amusement behind it.

"No no no, don't be sorry, I'm not blaming you at all. I'm sure it's all this guy's fault somehow." Lisa pointed at me.

I cleared my throat, "Ahem, Lisa, she can't read you."

She facepalmed again, "My bad, my bad. Sorry Taylor, please don't freak out if I seem to be responding to your thoughts?"

Taylor shook her head, "Um, no, it's alright. Are you? Uh..."

Lisa smiled and put a finger to her lips. Taylor nodded and gave a relieved yet nervous smile, "Okay then, don't wait for me to speak, I'll get used to it."

Lisa grinned, "Thanks, it's a relief to not have to wait."

I already had my Gamer's Mind fully relaxed for the same reason, "Lisa, do I have your permi..."

"You really are a gentleman you know? All prim and proper, I was expecting her to already know! Yes yes I know you wouldn't do that, very nice of you. But of course you have my permission! After all, she is, as you say, my potential fellow." Her teasing lilt was back.

I nodded and let most of my embarrassment leak out just to appease her. Her smug grin intensified, I was sure that it was more due to her knowing that I allowed it to show than just me being embarrassed. I messaged Lisa's Observe results to Taylor. Her eyes first widened, then filled with both wariness and sympathy.

Lisa was dumbfound, mouth agape. She glared at me, "I keep telling you telepaths don't exist! Stop breaking my worldview! And you're lucky I've been practicing shutting down my Sherlock assist, or else you'd be dealing with a catatonic me right now!"

Then she turned to Taylor and sighed with a brittle smile, "Things a girl has to do for a living, like literally" she said with a shrug.

After giving a reassuring headshake to whatever Taylor was thinking, Lisa turned to me again, eager to change the topic, "Seriously man, if by 'steadily growing abilities' you meant you start looking hotter and moving like you're taking lessons from frigging Crane the Harmonious? I have just one thing to say - where do I sign up?"

This time I did block the embarrassment, but allowed myself a prideful smirk. "Easy there girl, we've first got to get rid of your snakebite problem."

I made a show of taking her mug of coffee and taking a sniff. When giving it back to her, I palmed a memory chip with my research notes on the 7 names dada had given me. It had taken me half a night of browsing through umpteen anonymous redirects. I did not know what kind of cybersecurity Coil maintained, but I didn't want his eyes on me researching his civilian persona. I gave Lisa her mug, passing the chip between her fingers with a bit of Sleight of Hand (I had 18 levels in it).

She narrowed her eyes when she felt it, then nodded. Then her eyes almost popped out for a moment, "Bull. Shit." Ah, she'd just figured out where the chip came from.

I smirked and shrugged. Taylor was looking a bit confused, I messaged telling her what happened, she chuckled. Lisa's head whipped to face her, "you can do that too?"

Taylor shook her head, "not like that I can't. Not yet."

Lisa shook her head, "such modesty from the girl who's got the PRT by the balls. Oh, oh you didn't know!"

I interrupted, "Lisa, don't spoil it, I've told her if she can't figure it out by the weekend I'll tell her." Of course Lisa would know, she could crack passwords with a guess or two, diving into interesting case files was probably her hobby.

Taylor was contemplating, surprise still visible on her face, "so the reason the PRT was so accommodating towards you includes me somehow, and some kind of leverage, but what? Give me a clue here guys!"

Lisa shook her head again, "I'm not gonna ruin the surprise then, keep an eye on the news for the next few days, that's the biggest clue you'll get from me." Then she turned to me again, "anyway, honestly, why can't I sign up before the snake is caught?"

"It takes a while to be able to hide the effects completely from certain kinds of thinkers." I was quite certain that without the anonymity protocols and/or emotional controls, Coil's precog would catch on to her fresh Gamer-ness in a jiffy.

She gave the both of us alternating looks, then sighed, "I see, yes, even for me she's way easier to read than you are. And I'm not even a precog." I nodded.

Lisa asked me, "So do the dossiers have photos?" I nodded. "Are they numbered?" I nodded again. "Good, I'll get back to you with a number in a day or two. And no, you don't have to remind me, I'll check them in a secure zone using a secure system." I gave an exasperated sigh, who wouldn't believe her if she claimed to be a psychic?

I was curious about something else though, "So why the sudden change of venue?"

She shook her head, "He has eyes on the boardwalk, we were lucky last time, no taking chances." Taylor and me both nodded, OPSEC is something that we specifically studied a lot about. We lapsed into a moment of contemplative silence.

Lisa was eyeing Taylor critically now, who was trying her best not to squirm under scrutiny. I started checking out the menu to see if they had anything interesting. Lisa looked back at me, "Nope, not happening. Aveek, I'm sure you'd like nothing better than to sit here and drink tea all day - but firstly, the tea here is crap. Secondly, I didn't call you over to a mall to drink tea. And finally, you're going to use your newfound sense of style to help us girls pick out clothes."

I sent Taylor a desperate message, _'I haven't learned any fashion skills!'_ Damn traitor, she just giggled while Lisa dragged the both of us out into the mall proper.

As I was saying; man proposes, man has no fucking idea.

* * *

Beta by **MaddTitan**


	25. Grind 4-2

**Grind 4.2**

 _January 8, 2011, Highgate Plaza - Brockton Bay, 4:32 PM_

So clothes shopping with Lisa and Taylor had turned out to be an amazingly wholesome fun activity - No it didn't. Taylor did her best to put on a brave face and confronted the store attendants and fellow shoppers as Lisa egged her on. There were some fun moments though, like Lisa's reaction when Taylor gained a charisma point. She went all wide eyed and then gave us her best 'you've gotta be kidding me' look. A look she repeated when I started making discerning fashion comments about halfway through their spree.

Of course there were enough books in my multiple libraries' worth of downloads to make a Fashion skill. I'd just copied them on to my phone chip, scanned it and set my parallel meditating mind to absorbing some of them. Meanwhile they continued trying out clothes and asking for my critique. And of course Taylor had absorbed all of them while in the fitting room as soon as she'd noticed them being added. She must have leveled up the skill much higher than me too by trying out so many clothes. After a while Lisa just threw up her hands in the air and started asking Taylor for advice.

The other interesting moment was when Lisa came out of the fitting room in a very risque ensemble and I could sense her lapping up my embarrassment and arousal. Really, she was taking a bit too much pleasure in it. I got back at her by mentally blasting her a whole bunch of libidinous thoughts - while maintaining eye contact and shutting off all other emotional output apart from lust. Worked like a charm as she blushed, then glared at me and ran back into the fitting room. Why and how was this woman asexual again?

Both Lisa and Taylor unanimously decided to eat at this fast food place called Fugly Bob's. I was raised in India, give me the spiciest of foods and I'd consume them with relish. But this much grease was a first for even me. It was amazingly tasty though. Praise our gamer's bodies that could process the food simply to add HP and not clog our arteries.

As Lisa sent Taylor to thank the chef and we had a moment to ourselves, I took the opportunity to talk to Lisa, "Thanks for helping Taylor out, she needed this."

Lisa waved her hand, "Don't mention it, I needed some girl time too. Thanks for putting up with us. So I get that your power makes you gain personability just from social interaction. But apparently you also just gain knowledge from thin air whenever needed?"

I shrugged, "It's a bit more complicated than that. I'll explain the mechanics when you come onboard."

"Oh I'm onboard already. It's just a matter of time now." I got a message telling me that Lisa had become a potential party member, ah, so I couldn't just add anybody.

I nodded, "Indeed, then it is absolute cause for celebration. Would you like to have dinner with me when you're free in the next few days?" I radiated confidence but didn't hide the mild trepidation either.

She smiled, "I'd be delighted to. In fact let's add a movie to it - there's the new Aleph import called Inception, I believe we'd enjoy it."

My relief and glee were both palpable. "It would be my pleasure."

 **Successfully asking someone out increases your CHA by 1**

Heh, we finalised next Wednesday evening for the date. Lisa bade Taylor and Me goodbye as we left Fugly Bob's and headed off. We started towards Lord's Market, time to kit Taylor's inventory up. Danny had wanted to pay for the purchases earlier, but we had refused. We'd need to create cash generation avenues eventually, so I took a proper loan from dada. 50 grands in my account, repayable in 3 EMIs of 20 grands, all apparently white money. No idea how he legitimized it; it was his speciality after all.

Taylor engaged in a bit of juvenile teasing about Lisa and me. I just warned her that I was going to be merciless when she'd be fending off boys with sticks, she relented soon after. She'd already started to notice that she was getting appraising looks. I made her haggle for each and every item of purchase. She already had the Negotiation skill, it just needed the actual experience to level up enough. She collected a few more charisma points in the process. By the time we were finished, one could not recognize her as the girl who left with me in the morning. She raised 6 points in charisma overall, bringing the total up to 14. Her lean features now looked striking, and the only change in her wardrobe was a shawl instead of the hoodie. But the overall visible difference was radical. I thanked my stars that with her I'd already taken up the big brother mentality and there was a different person of the opposite sex in my mind - otherwise it could have become awkward.

We came back to Taylor's place around 6pm to see Danny already home, heating something for dinner. He did a double take when he saw Taylor. He got up and gave her a hug, remarking that she looked like a taller and more intense version of a young Annette. That pleased Taylor a lot. Then he turned to me and said, "Aveek, if any boys bother her, you have my blessing to mess them up completely."

I smiled and shook my head. "That won't be necessary, sir. Tonight's training will be so she can do it herself."

Danny nodded resolutely. "Good, you do that. Do you guys want to eat something?"

Both of us refused, then I told Taylor to go change into her freshly acquired combat clothes. She had already shown me some strips of black widow silk she was planning to make our costumes out of. We'd tested it to be completely knife proof and we could make it fire retardant with a bit of borax treatment.

We had also discussed feeding carbon fibre strands to the widows for enhanced strength. She wanted to make armor plating with insect carapaces but I had suggested millimetre thick flawless diamond plates (Already checked that they counted to my power as non-complex construct material) that she could then weave into double layered spidersilk. If my estimation was right they'd merely shatter on impact with even heavy calibre rounds and absorb the force. Though it'd take me about two days of nonstop construction with my current capacity to produce sufficient diamond plates for one costume with sufficient armor and eye coverage, but it'd be worth it.

All that was for later though, for now she was just changing into the urban camo fatigues and an army surplus light flak vest.

We'd already discussed different ways to make money from the stuff that we could make. I could produce flawless diamond and rare metal jewellery, my construct complexity was already good enough for them. She could sell spidersilk cloth in bulk to law enforcement agencies. And I could also sell extremely pure rare elements to research labs or factories who needed them in low quantity but high purity.

Anyway, I was discussing some of these possibilities with Danny while Taylor arrived. I warned Danny to not freak out when we would disappear with a lightshow. Taylor's level was still 10 because she didn't get quests.

Let's see if combat gave her any XP. I grabbed Taylor, got a fresh scan of her and dropped us into an ID with level 7-10 mooks.

* * *

Beta by **MaddTitan**


	26. Grind 4-3

**Grind 4.3**

 _January 8, 2011, Hebert House - Instant Dimension, 6:23 PM_

Reality cracked, everything acquired a tinge of grey, and there were three mooks. Teens in gang colours to be specific, who rushed us. Taylor just stood gaping while a Chinese boy ran at her and executed a decent spinning heel kick at her head. He got a clean hit on her because she was still busy gaping, she went down like a ragdoll. Oops! That was not supposed to happen! Taylor had a decent enough level in martial arts to be able to handle that.

I taser-shot the guy and knocked the two other mooks out with throat punches. Then I picked Taylor up, "are you all right?"

She nodded absently, "y-yeah, I couldn't feel any insects other than the ones on my own body. It took me by surprise."

"Ah, I should have thought of that. No matter, this is good training. You may encounter opponents who have a way to sterilize the surroundings. That should not leave you dumbstruck like this. I propose we do a few rounds of training without any augments every now and then. For now, bring out the swarm."

She nodded, opened her inventory and started to bring out thousands of bugs.

We'd been overjoyed by the success of putting invertebrates into the inventory, but when we tried to do it with the frogs, it was a bust. Apparently the more complex the organism's neural architecture, the more nerve damage it sustained from a trip into the inventory. What gave flies no problems, resulted in noticeable disorientation for bees, and gave the frogs grand mal seizures. Good thing we didn't try it with anything bigger, it'd probably put cats and dogs into a coma and outright kill humans. I guess it happened from the disparity in the electrical signals when the bodies going in and coming out were partially timelocked by the nature of the inventory subspace.

Taylor quickly spread her swarm in and around the house and started sending me mental messages about the mook density and placements around us. I smiled, "well, what are you waiting for then? Go wild!"

She grinned and nodded. Immediately I could hear screams from around us as she started swarming the mooks. She opened the door and went out, I followed her. The mooks were rolling on the ground frantically flailing at the bees, wasps, and ants deposited by the bees and wasps on them.

She proceeded to disable the nearest mook with a precise hit on the back of the Empire girl's head, the girl stopped moving. Taylor paused, radiating both glee and discomfort, "I got XP!" I nodded, "good, now don't be squeamish, these are not real people. Also, if they were real people, their sole aim is to attack you. This is self defence." She gave me a resolute nod.

Soon she was leaving a trail of unconscious bodies and had already leveled up once. These mooks were just too easy for her. I allowed it to go on for a few hours in which she picked up another two levels and some physical statpoints. Then I went through the party options again, found the XP distribution settings and set it to equal distribution instead of the default per-hit proportional setting.

Then I asked her to get back into the house and put her bugs back in the inventory. Once done, I collapsed the ID, only mildly startling Danny with our reappearance. I told Taylor that we were going back in, but this time without any augments or bug assist. I mana cleansed both of us so that she'd have no bug senses at all.

I opened an ID again, this time with mook level 14-18, which would be trained thugs with weapons but not firearms. Five gangers with knives and truncheons rushed us immediately. Taylor was ready this time, she took her loss of bug senses like a champ and swiftly ducked and sidestepped around the thugs' swings. She disarmed the two that attacked her like a pro and incapacitated them quickly with neck and temple strikes. I didn't bother disarming my mooks, choosing to simply outspeed them and dropping them before they could hit me. Taylor messaged me saying the XP was better this time, of course, because the mook levels were higher.

We continued non-stop till almost midnight, when Taylor announced that she couldn't go on anymore. Her physicals were looking much better though, they were all near 15 now. Her frame had already improved from gangly to athletic. I healed her cuts, bruises, muscle tissue microtears and lactic acid buildup manually, without using the previous scans (I was afraid that using the scan might just bring her gangly frame back). Which gained me a level in heal and a subskill called Refresh. Speaking of skills, Taylor also gained quite a few levels in kinetic resistance. I made a mental note to research what other resistances can be developed.

Though the refresh took care of the physical fatigue, there was still mental fatigue to consider, so we called it a night. I flew up and peppered the remaining mooks in the vicinity with taser bullet shots to squeeze the last dregs of XP from that session. Then we went back to her house and I collapsed the ID. Danny was still up and waiting for us. "There you are. Had fun? You're looking healthier again Taylor, and filthier though."

Taylor grinned nodded at him, then held out her hand again at me, "Cleanse please."

"Good thinking." I nodded and cleansed the both of us. Danny looked at the floor where all of our cleansed out dust, dirt and dried blood had accumulated at our feet, "Last time you did that I had to mop the floor. Aveek, do you have a blue magic to get rid of that?"

I gave a sheepish grin, then opened an inventory hole and swept it along the floor. It was well within my current 45cm mana projection range.

Danny snorted and shook his head, "figured so. It's late though, Dev called, he wanted you to know that he's off to sleep and you can let yourself in."

I nodded again, "Thanks sir. I'll do that. Anyway, as you would remember, I'm taking Taylor out to collect bugs tomorrow."

Danny nodded, "yeah, I remember, where do you plan to go? Do you need a ride?"

I shook my head, "No, we need to practice running to develop our mover abilities anyway. We'll go to the nearby parks and stuff, we'll stay in touch if it gets late."

I bade the both of them a good night and went back into a blank ID. I didn't have any pressing need to go home right now, so I stayed right there to do some experiments.

First thing I did was to construct a full-size mirror on a wall in front of me, it was just a layer of silver deposited on the wall. Not much mass overall, so it took only a few minutes to turn the construct real. Then I stripped and began fleshcrafting.

I took out a hunk of beef from the inventory and used it as fleshcrafting biomass to add more muscle mass to my body. Even with my biology skills it took a while to get the proportions and nerve connections right. I needed a way to get many more scans to collect the necessary knowledge. Well, I looked very muscled, overly muscled in fact. I played with the proportions till it looked better overall. I noticed that the additional muscle did give a +2 to my strength, but as a modifier, not an increment. I also realized using the same biology skills that if I applied these modifications to a normal human, they would probably develop complications later due to hormonal imbalances and metabolism rates. I gained a lot of respect for the amount of knowledge that Amy had to use for even minor changes.

On a whim, I scanned myself, and opened it. Then opened Danny's and dada's scans, then applied dada's stocky skeletal proportions, Danny's skin complexion and increased the height of everything proportionally. Then added Taylor's hair colour and length from her scan, but kept the collagen structure to my straighter hair than Taylor's curls. I saved this new mashup as a file. Now I fired up fleshcrafting again, pointed it to the file and applied it to my body. I was a completely different person in a blue flash, the face could still be recognized as mine, but the 6'4" buff frame, white skin and absurdly long brown hair made it look completely different.

I changed the melanin content again to a more bronze complexion, narrowed the hips slightly, increased muscle density and changed the fast/slow twitch proportions to more fast-twitch muscles. Decreased hair length to shoulder length and then scanned myself once more and saved it. This build apparently gave me +3 STR, +2 DEX, +1 VIT and +2 CHA modifiers. I finally opened an unmodified scan and applied fleshcrafting with it again, I was back to normal in another blue flash.

 **You've gained the ShapeShifting subskill of FleshCrafting!**

 **Avatar Options are now unlocked.**

 **You can now switch between saved avatars directly.**

 **Equipment windows are now unlocked for your party.**

 **You can now switch clothes, accessories and wielded weapons as saved sets.**


	27. Grind 4-4

**Grind 4.4**

 _January 9, 2011, Instant Dimension, 5:12 AM_

I tried my hand at further enhancement, but sadly anything away from normal human biology gave permanent negative status effects and constant HP drain due to that. My biology skills were just not good enough to make the modifications self-sustained. All that would be taken care of soon, I'd need to find a way to collaborate with Amy in my cape persona anyway.

The stranger aspect of shapeshifting was another major experimental avenue. Apart from the 'superheroic' avatar, I created a few extremely average looking avatars by blending and sculpting the 3 male scans I had. Making them further anonymous was just a matter of equipping them on, applying anonymity protocols with only 6 charisma, re-scanning the resulting build and saving it. Taylor's was the only female scan I had and honestly it seemed highly inappropriate to experiment with forms made from her anatomy as the base without her consent.

It was still a while before sunrise, I had another experiment to perform. I dived into the scans I had of Taylor's corona, her bugs, and my inventory opening. I put all of my surplus mana into 5 extra multitasking thought streams and put them into meditation (sadly the gain in mana regen did not stack). Then began studying the dimensional breaches in the aforementioned scans. I needed a way to make holes between dimensions, or else I'd need to come out of IDs blind all the time. I also wanted to be able to enter and exit dimensions other than by having to create and dismiss them.

At the current level the IDs stretched only a few kilometres from the localised anchor point (where I created them from) after which they hit a sort of invisible barrier outside which everything looked like low-res paintings. Of course the AI would be too lazy to reconstruct the whole world just for training purposes.

It took me only about half an hour, but I think I had a decent understanding how controlled dimensional breaches worked. I closed the scans and dropped the extra thought streams, I willed out some mana into creating an inch wide hole to the anchor dimension (Earth Bet, that is) in front of me. The hole formed, I could see into the Hebert's living room without having to collapse the ID, that was very good news. Even better news was that the edge of the hole had a barely visible blue glow. I closed it and opened another only 5mm wide, the glow wasn't even visible this time even in the darkness of the room. This would be an invaluable spying mechanism.

I got a Dimensional Breach skill for it, the mana cost to make and sustain them increased with the area of the hole. And the bigger the hole, the more it glowed. At my current mana levels, a hole about two feet diameter was the best I could do. Oh well, more grinding.

Taylor messaged me saying she was done sleeping and was ready to go. I dropped the ID, she was in the kitchen making a sandwich, I walked in. She spoke without turning, must have dropped a bug on me sometime post cleansing last night. "would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please. So do you have an idea of what bugs you want?"

"Yeah, there's a good variety in the nearby forest trails. But if we want the Blue Ghost fireflies, we'll have to hit the Appalachian trail. Are you sure we can just run there?"

I grinned, "let's see how the running skills level. Oh, and also, there are not too many books about parkour, but guess what? I checked earlier, 'how to' videos count as skill books!"

Taylor radiated supreme smugness, "I know, I learned those skills as soon as you got them. Took me a long few seconds."

I shook my fist at her, "Goddamn bullshit multitasking, took me an hour even with 3 streams on!"

She chuckled, "Look who's talking, Mr. I-use-pocket-universes-for-training-how-to-taser-snipe-people."

I shrugged, "fair enough. Anyway, what's the progress on your regular skills?"

"Hmm, not bad I'd say, Administration is at level 18, I'm expecting another upgrade slot at level 20, control is down to singular muscles," a spider climbed out of her hair and waved a single leg at me. It took a good amount of mental control to suppress the very uncomfortable mix of cuteness and horror that induced.

"Sensing is up to tactile and textures, still no sight or hearing. Range is at 1 kilometre and growing. Selectivity is at individual targets now. No new targets yet."

I nodded, "pretty good, what about the gamer skills?"

"Decent progress there too, I'm level 15 now, as you can see, physicals all around 15, charisma..."

I interrupted, "Stats and level I can see, tell me about Gamer's Mind and Body"

She nodded, "Gamer's Mind is at level 31, extreme emotional spike suppression was unlocked at level 30. Gamer's body is at level 23, Only need about 2 hours of sleep per day. Feeling of hunger and fatigue is much reduced, as you might have noticed yesterday." She handed me a cup of tea.

I nodded, "yeah, I don't feel hungry at all, thankfully eating is still satisfying. Oh, nice tea, did you make a few extra cups?"

She nodded, "of course, already inventoried two steaming pots."

I gave her a thumbs up, "You're the best. So when do you think the costumes would be ready for me to add the armour? You'll have to do the spidersilk, my construction can't replicate the protein strands yet, too complex."

She waved me away, "no problem, I've already started feeding them the carbon fibre we got from the auto-body shop yesterday for the outer layers. It'll take about two more days of active weaving to finish our sets. Only the undersuit for you as you asked, and mine with double layered armor pouches. You might want to start making the diamond armor. Speaking of diamonds, I've mailed you some books on jewellery design, please add them when you get time?"

I nodded and took out my phone. "On it, remember to keep the designs as light as possible. I've also spoken to dada to register a company in my cape name. I also wanted to book a domain but I've not yet come upon a good team name."

She shook her head, "tell me about it, names are tough to come up with, even with infinite multitasking. I'm going to stick with Swarm for me, good middle ground between the terrifying ones like Borg, Matriarch or Hive - and the cute ones like Ladybug or Hamelin."

I nodded, "well, you also wanted to avoid the mythological names, or else I had quite a few suggestions."

She chuckled, "no thanks, we're good with one uppity name. Let me be the humble one."

I gave her a mock frown, "Humble, right. Also, Maker is not uppity at all! I make things. I'm going for the tinker angle!"

She waved me away again, "Just because I'm not as much a geek as you doesn't mean I don't get all the references. Anyway, I'm not complaining, it's a good name."

I gave an elitist sniff as I sipped the last of my tea, "of course it is. Enough talk, let's go grab some bugs."

Taylor finished her tea in a gulp, "Let's."

I grabbed her hand and put us into a blank ID. We left the house and started free running through streets, houses, rooftops. Parkour was a brilliant skill after all. Pretty soon we reached the edge of the ID. I found a secluded shed, broke us into it, poked a hole and checked for eyes or cameras. Then collapsed and recreated the ID anchored there. We had to repeat this maneuovre every few kilometres. Taylor sensed the local insects every time I poked a hole, so some of those stops we took inside parks and she picked up whatever insects she wanted.

Running, (Including the Sprint subskill), Parkour and Instant Dimension skills leveled up very quickly from repeated use. By the time we crossed the city limits we were easily running at 80 Km/h (50mph for the Americans). I was not boosting because Taylor wouldn't be able to keep up then. We were even picking up VIT and DEX points, Taylor got more than me though. I soon got a Re-Anchor subskill for IDs at level 30 that let me re-centre them without having to collapse and remake them, that sped up our progress quite a lot. I had to heal some minor bruises on Taylor and use Refresh to remove her fatigue a few times.

We reached the White Mountain National Forest at around 10 in the morning, running speed had started plateauing at around 120km/h, I figured even at its best running would probably not go faster than 150, it was still way beyond human levels. With mana boost I might even start to reach speedster levels. Which reminded me, I'd need to find some excuse to scan Velocity, and other capes too at some point of time.

Taylor soon amassed a swarm of biblical proportions, we'd already agreed that she'd not deplete any area of more than half its natural insect population. She also set the remaining ones to breed. She got moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, beetles, fireflies, flies, bees, wasps, so many kinds of spiders and ants... I stopped keeping track after a while, but I did notice the assassin bugs, the velvet ants (also called cow killers) and all the venomous bugs she got. Her inventory had hundreds of grids of neatly labeled species, each having tens of thousands of insects at times.

We had tea beside a nicely canopied brook in the middle of the forest, I sliced the top off of a boulder to make a table. Very serene setting for a picnic. It would be nice to bring Lisa out here for a date or something.

I realised I had mumbled it out loud when Taylor started singsonging, "Aveek and Lisa sitting on a rock. Having some tea but all they want is to f..."

"Language!"

"...fish?"

"Right. Enough tea, let's head to the Appalachians!"

Taylor giggled as she put the crockery back in her inventory, "Let's."


	28. Grind 4-5

**Grind 4.5**

 _January 12, 2011, Brockton Bay, 6:35 PM_

The bug-collection run was a huge success all over. We had lots of gains even apart from the bugs and physical statpoints. Running, Jumping, Parkour, all got major boosts. We even had an impromptu training session in the woods with high level (20-25) mooks - they were heavily armed, armored and organised mercs. We got a very good workout of all our powers, strategy and tactics.

Just that two hour session netted me a level and Taylor two, we also got some INT and WIS points. I gave field command to Taylor, of course, because her primary power was Administration after all! She seemingly danced through a hail of sniper-fire just because she could! She later told me that she had awareness of where all the guns were pointing and when triggers were squeezed... Yes she was a monster.

She pointed out the snipers to me and I force sniped them right back, taser-sniping armored targets was too mana-expensive. Then I went full mana boost and disarmed all the nearby gunners while Taylor took out her aluminium baseball bat and engaged them three or four at a time. She even took a few shots willingly just to level up kinetic resistance, with her 300+ HP tanking a bullet or three was perfectly alright.

Her Administration finally leveled up to 20 and crustaceans were added as targets, apparently freshwater crabs and shrimps could survive a trip through the inventory with the mental equivalent of a mild concussion so she collected quite a few varieties of those too. The new upgrade slot wasn't like the previous one. She was given two options, either to allow her multitasking to function independent of the number of bugs she had or to allow her to give her targets chained orders which lasted a while even after they dropped out of her range. Obviously she chose the second one, because at the rate her range was increasing, sterilizing her full range would become next to impossible. Also, fleshcrafting a pouch inside her body which could sustain a small colony of bioengineered mites would not be that big a deal once I had enough levels in biology.

Speaking of Biology, I scanned a host of organisms, hopefully going through the scans would give me both some XP and levels in Biology. I also found quite a few dead animal carcasses with Taylor's help, fleshcrafted them into bio-sludge and poured it into my inventory, added mulched dead trees and fungi to it for protein variety. By the time we were done I had an inventory slot labeled 'Biomass - 137Kg', would come in handy while healing and experimenting, much better than expensive hunks of beef.

We came back to Brockton Bay in a single non-stop run during which Taylor needed a Refresh only once. Did a lot of good for both her VIT and pushed her Gamer's Body to level 30, when she finally gained the basic anonymity protocols that made her appear like a normal, fit teen if any parahuman powers would scan her.

After coming back, we mostly shut ourselves in for the next two days in Taylor's Basement, making our first set of costumes. We experimented with a lot of different ways for armor, colors, shapes and textures. Taylor worked out a lot with heavy weights, it spurred a final round of STR gains for her. Her current figure would give any supermodel a complex. When we were working on how to layer the chest armor, I noticed she was extremely flustered about something. A bit of prodding revealed the cause:

 _Taylor stood there in the basement, wearing her prototype undersuit, flexing and stretching as I fitted the experimental construct parts. I constructed them out of diamond plates layered with an anti-shrapnel coating (like bulletproof glass) arranged in hexagons on a thin titanium base to hold shape where necessary. When it was time to test the breastplate ensemble, Taylor was squirming like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, exuding embarrassment and consternation._

 _This was odd, she'd been very proud of her recently svelte figure, and she hadn't been uncomfortable at all discussing it with me earlier, was I behaving oddly somehow? No, I wasn't even embarrassed or aroused at all that I'd even need control. I asked her, "Is something wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable in any way?"_

 _She was well used to my blunt way of speaking by now, she shook her head, "No, no, not at all, it's nothing like that!"_

 _"Then?"_

 _"Um, uh..."_

 _"Come on Taylor, I've never given you cause to feel uncomfortable about anything."_

 _"No. Uh. It's, uh... Canyoufleshcraftmeabiggerbust?"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _She waved her hands around her chest area, her cheeks flaming red._

 _"Oh. Oh, I got it, say no more. Of course I can, but I think I can do you one better, give me a few minutes."_

 _She nodded and let out a breath she was holding for too long. Relief pouring out of her. I'd exchanged numbers with Amy in a recent mail conversation where she was gushing how nicely Victoria's aura-bracelet worked out. I gave her a call, she picked up in a few rings._

 _"Hello? Aveek?"_

 _"Hey Amy, good time to talk?"_

 _"Yes, sure, I was just doing homework. Nothing important."_

 _"Great, so, have you considered doing cosmetic enhancements?"_

 _"Yes, it's actually much easier than healing, I'm still considering how to put word out in the market without causing a furore."_

 _"Indeed, any announcement you'll make will result in brouhaha. Meanwhile, I have two pieces of news for you."_

 _"More ideas?"_

 _"Not really, firstly, I've recently come in contact with a new cape who's basically a tinker, but can do wetwork. He wants to try out healing and as far as I think his powerset complements yours in a very interesting way."_

 _"Hero or villain?"_

 _"You know how I feel about that classification system Amy. He's new, wants to be on the straight side of the law, consider him a rogue with altruistic but profitable intentions."_

 _"Hmm, and he just met you out of the blue?"_

 _"Come on Amy, don't ask questions you don't really want answers to."_

 _"I get it, I get it. Anyway, yes, healers are always welcome. If you vouch for him, I'll meet him."_

 _"Great, I'll put the two of you in touch via mail."_

 _"And the second thing?"_

 _"Yes, a friend of mine was asking about cosmetic modifications when she learned about Maker, the new cape I mentioned. But I immediately thought of you. She's a good kid. Has a bit of unnecessary body image issues."_

 _"Let me guess, boobs?"_

 _"Got it in one."_

 _"Might as well start somewhere. Okay, you sure you don't want any such enhancements?"_

 _"Hah! I'm good for now, thanks for asking. How's everything else going?"_

 _"Quite well, my schedule's still hectic, Vicky's putting an effort now that she can see her aura flaring wantonly. I still don't have a cure for the addiction issue, but the drug regimen plan you mentioned is working nicely on a case of depression I've been treating."_

 _"Excellent. And the new cape may be able to help you with your brain problem."_

 _"What do you mean?" Her voice took a sharper tone._

 _"Stop panicking randomly girl! You know I understand your power fully well, and I've a ton of respect for you. This guy Maker can save biological snapshots and restore them at will. Do the math."_

 _"Uh. How?... Wait. Wait... It means I can try different things on live subjects and he can simply revert the changes if I fuck up!"_

 _"Precisely."_

 _"Wow. Okay, yes I'm actually very interested in meeting him. Wait, this has so many uses! Why does he even want to work with me?"_

 _"His power doesn't come with the intrinsic biological knowledge that yours comes with. He wants to learn to heal without having saved snapshots."_

 _"Ah, I see. Cool. I'll definitely meet him! And also, I've already created quite a few retrovirus strains to cure a number of genetic and infectious diseases, also most common types of cancer!"_

 _"Brilliant! I'm sure Mrs. Dallon can help you with the contracts. But if you want any help with negotiating finances, my cousin would love to help. Have I mentioned that he's a hotshot finance Guru?"_

 _"Quite a few times, you have. I'll probably take him up on that offer sometime soon. Thanks a lot for your help, really, giving your friend a boob job is the least I can do to pay you back." I could hear the levity in her voice._

 _"Hey, what are friends for?"_

 _"Th..thanks. I'll look forward to meeting you guys."_

 _"Same here. I'll set up a time and mail you. And Maker will probably get in touch soon enough. You get back to homework. Catch you later."_

 _"Cool. Bye then."_

 _"Bye bye. Have a good night."_

 _As I hung up, Taylor was looking at me like I'd grown two heads, "You didn't tell me you were that close with freaking Panacea!"_

 _"What? I told you I got fleshcrafting from her."_

 _She just shook her head. "Never mind, so I'm going to be given cosmetic surgery by THE Panacea?!"_

 _I nodded, "Yep, painless, embarrassment-less surgery."_

 _She just bounced up, gave a whoop and then glomped me with enough force to break a few baseline bones._

Heh, things went pretty smoothly after that, we did the breastplate sections with some extra padding in place. The armor pieces fit pretty neatly into their pockets. It was overall a very sleek ensemble. As we had discussed earlier, she'd ideally never be in physical presence of the action; the whole costume was a fallback measure, so it had to be something that could be worn under normal clothes.

Her first draft of the retractable helmet was terrifying, we worked to smooth the edges and turn it into somewhat adorrifying instead. The eyes were made of 5mm thick curved optically neutral diamond with yellow shatterproof film coating on the insides, I couldn't even scratch it hitting full force with a mallet. The mandibles were made of Titanium. The face pieces slid nicely into four parts and retracted to the sides so she could wear a hoodie and there'd be no sign of costume other than gloves. Overall the costume was intimidating in its black dyed silk and silvery armor edges peeking out at places, but suitably neutral.

It took her quite a while to wear the costume in full. Took her even longer to use bugs to individually draw locks of her hair out through the perforated scalp of the helmet (she was adamant about having her hair out!). Once she wore it fully, I showed her how to save it as a set, then wear a hoodie and jeans over it, save it as another set and voila! Instant change costume, with or without camouflage.

My costume was simpler. It was more of a form fitting segmented armour above the double layer spidersilk suit, made fully of mana construct Tungsten Carbide with a faceless helmet (I'd discovered earlier that seeing through my constructs was just a matter of willing it). I was undecided whether to use light construct facial features or not. Once I saved the whole set with my superheroic avatar, it just deducted the mana cost for construction once and equipping/unequipping was free. Much cheaper to repair or modify because it's just construct and not real matter. And it glowed blue.

Anyway, this evening was my first proper date with Lisa. This time I took a big fashion step and wore a white turtleneck with denims! These turtlenecks were ridiculously tight fits by now, but Taylor assured me they looked fine. The satisfaction and excitement in Lisa's demeanour when we met outside the movie theater proved it. Though it could also have been for the news she was going to give me. There was also an undercurrent of nervousness though, well, I was feeling slightly nervous too.

After exchanging generic greetings, we went into the theatre, got popcorn and sat down. Lisa casually grabbed my hand and started tapping. Morse code was a part of enough military and emergency manuals which I'd absorbed, so it took no time to decode the taps.

'EYES ON US. COIL HENCH'

I controlled my emotions and tapped right back, 'LOCATION'

She started tapping back before I was halfway done, '8 CLOCK. 2 ROWS'

I replayed my memories and caught the guy's face. My habit of keeping a multitask stream just to keep observing everyone and saving the results came in handy, level 18, easy to miss. Jim Howard, trained more for infiltration than combat, employed by Coil. Hmm. I tapped a query to Lisa. 'HOSTILE?'

'NO. GEN. SURV.'

'COIL SUSPICIOUS?'

'NO. KEEPING TABS'

'COIL ID?'

'NUM 4'

'CALVERT'

'YES'

'OK. NORMAL DATE?'

'YES. TAKE ME HOME AFTER'

I didn't reply, just smirked. She blushed and slapped my shoulder. The movie was starting, we fell into casual banter about the movie. It was a pretty good one, Aleph VFX always had that authentic feel to it, cool plot too. I'd already made reservations at a decent Italian place. We ate dinner, bantered and flirted. Our lookout switched to a different person between the theater and the restaurant. This time I caught the guy immediately, level 22, still infiltration specialist.

After dinner I theatrically asked her to drop me home. She agreed equally theatrically and we went to her car. Once inside the car, she tapped 'CAR BUGGED' and again we exchanged inconsequential chitchat. As we were nearing my block, I messaged Taylor and asked her to keep a track of anyone tailing us. She messaged right back that there was a van going parallel to us on an adjacent street. I tapped the info to Lisa and she just nodded. We kept chatting and flirting.

When we arrived, I invited Lisa in for coffee. Dada opened the door, I introduced them. We went in to the living room and sat down for some casual chitchat. Dada chatted cordially for a while and then excused himself with a surreptitious wink at me. Lisa blushed again. Taylor messaged me and said that the van had parked a bit away from our place, 4 men armed with MP4s with strange attachments had surrounded our house in a typical ambush pattern. Coil's men alright.

I whispered to Lisa, "T says 4 men around the house in ambush pattern."

She frowned and whispered back, "Uncharacteristic, this should not be happening - are you ready for combat if they make a move?" I messaged Taylor, she replied that she had enough painful and venomous bugs on them to drop them at a moment's notice.

I nodded at Lisa, "they won't reach the door." Her eyes widened in understanding, mental gears spinning, she nodded shakily. Yep, Taylor was scary as fuck.

Lisa immediately had some realization, "Precog scenario! Ask her to not engage whatsoever!"

I instantly transferred Lisa's words to her, she confirmed. We had discussed the value of intents and decisions in precog scenarios.

At that moment I was flooded with AI assist messages.

 **Dimensional Scan Detected - Analysing.**

 **Analysis completed - Results saved: GenericPrecog01**

 **Anonymity Protocols Engaged - Result Prepared: AveekUnpowered03**

 **Result Transmitted.**

Within seconds, Taylor messaged me telling that the men were leaving. Huh, did he remove his men because his precog told him it'd be a bad idea or because his precog told him there's nothing to worry about?

I told Lisa, "the guys just left, and I was apparently scanned by a precog moments before."

Lisa seemed pensive, "he often sends his men to situations where they're given go/no go messages on the fly. This must be his precog telling him to give a no go. But why?"

I nodded, "that's what I thought. His scan would find me a powerless baseline, with some basic combat training and good fitness, that's all." The police report on the attack on dada was public domain, so I'd prepared that default anonymity protocol as a person who conforms to that report. Suddenly becoming a weakling would raise alarm bells instead.

She nodded, "his precog told him that torturing us for info will reveal nothing new. Damn, I guess he does this with us all the time. Even if there was some info revealed, he'd just know the info without doing anything in reality! Damn that's a scary power."

I let out a breath, "good thing I told Taylor to stand down. Don't worry, between the two of us, he won't get any info out of the ordinary. I'll know the details of his power soon enough, once I get a look at him. But really, Calvert? Are you sure? He seemed the cleanest of them all, apart from the Nilbog case! I expected Coil to be number 2 or 7."

She scoffed, "Number 2 is a stooge specifically kept for that purpose, even the body type is a close match! Number 7 is more subtle, he's an Empire double agent that Coil surreptitiously feeds info. Calvert is a very, very paranoid man."

I sighed, "This guy is going to be tough to handle. So, anyway, coffee?"

She smirked, she was sitting very close to me, still holding my hand, "Forward, aren't we?"

I shrugged again, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Tell me something, if you don't mind, how are you asexual anyway?"

She sighed, "I got my powers at a young age, puberty was spent getting all sorts of squicky information about any guy I even tried to get close to. My power works on focus, and to be intimate with someone, a lot of focus falls on the person. If I don't distract myself when close to other people, my power immediately starts counting germs on them, when they last puked, whether they washed their hands after peeing... It keeps getting grosser. I can even sit close to you because I've been practising keeping my power in check and thankfully you don't ring the squick bells much."

Oh, wow, that was a simple problem. "Huh. Wait." I stood up and cleansed myself.

She immediately grabbed my hand again, and started looking intently at it. Then pulled me into a hug, I could feel her trepidation turn again into excitement, and for the first time I'd noticed in her, mild arousal.

She nuzzled my neck a bit, then looked up at me, our faces only an inch apart, her arousal intensified.

Looking at me with a fierce intensity in her eyes, she uttered three words.

"Do me now."

I knew exactly what she meant. I cleansed her, and got an exceptional reward for correct interpretation.


	29. Grind 4-6

**Grind 4.6**

 _January 12, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 10:12 PM_

My reward lasted for a good 23 seconds (it was just a kiss you gutterheads!). Funny thing when you have four minds running in your head, even with two of them fully devoted to enjoying the experience and one in deep meditation; one mind still has time to count seconds, think random things and often point and laugh at the other three minds... Yes my head is a weird place at times.

Once we disengaged, both our faces were flushed, she began stuttering, trying her best to look elsewhere, "It... It... It was an ex... experiment. Yes, experim..."

"Lisa."

"You know, because I've never been able to focus... so.. so.."

"Lisa."

"To be so close to someone, and to be able to appreciate... It would be a... novel experience, with anyone..."

"Lisa!"

"Not that you're just anyone. I mean, I'd like to... uh... You're..."

"LISA!"

"I mean... Yes?"

"Use your power."

She finally looked at me. I was pointedly broadcasting all my emotions. I liked it very much, and I understood her reasoning, I came from a sexually repressed culture, it made perfect sense to me anyway. I was also absolutely fine with leaving it at that and pick things up at their own pace later on.

Her emotions slowly stabilized from the turbulent mix of worry, arousal, trepidation and excitement to a calmer mix of relaxation, understanding and simple joy. I smiled, "I liked it, thanks."

"Ah, I liked it too. And thank you for understanding." She let out a deep sigh.

We both took a moment to compose ourselves. I allowed a nominal amount of emotional control to take over again, as much as I did even before getting any powers. She was the first to speak, her usual smirk back in her face, "As much as I'd like to... ahem... experiment further. Call Taylor over, we've got plans to make."

I nodded and messaged her words to Taylor, she replied with a surprised _'Youre done already?!'_ and added that she was coming over. I facepalmed. Lisa started laughing.

Taylor arrived in a few minutes, when I got the door for her, she was looking at the both of us with a very scrutinizing narrow eyed stare. Lisa waved at her, shook her head and mouthed "Not even a quickie."

I saw that, muttered "...kids these days." And facepalmed again.

I went and made coffee for Lisa and tea for Taylor and me while Lisa gushed about how good Taylor was looking. Taylor was doing her best to hide her embarrassment.

Once we settled down, I began, "So, best case scenario, Coil knows that I'm a civillian who's the brother of his top finance guy without any knowledge of Lisa's cape life. Worst case scenario he knows about Taylor's powers and that we're planning something."

Lisa shook her head, "I doubt that, my power tells me it's the first scenario as of now. I have a meeting with him tomorrow, I'll be going in with full intent to reveal nothing. We'll arrange for a panic signal if anything goes otherwise. He considers me a valuable asset, he won't take any drastic steps unless he's confirmed of anything."

Taylor added, "And he'll not know about me either, I got the anonymity protocol prompts too."

Right, that had slipped my mind. I messaged a short dossier on Calvert to Taylor, "Calvert is a dangerous man, his status as a PRT consultant means we'll have to go with the assumption that the PRT is compromised."

Lisa nodded, "He's got deep moles there, I know that for a fact. He's also got at least a few more independent parahumans or groups at his beck and call."

Taylor piped in, "Okay, my trust in the PRT is at rock bottom anyway. Also, Aveek, I figured out your leverage on them. I resent that you didn't tell me back then but in hindsight that was a good decision. Because I'd surely have lost my shit earlier."

I nodded, "How'd you figure out?"

She looked at Lisa, "I remember you telling me to watch the news, today I finally had time to check things out. Only relevant news regarding the PRT is the transfer of Shadow Stalker. I also remembered that when the police came in to take my statement they were saying something about Sophia being already convicted and her case was taken over by 'higher ups'. At that time I thought it was due to the spycam evidence, but later I'd wondered why were Emma's or Madison's cases not being taken higher up? It all added up. Shadow Stalker's conscription into the wards, then sudden transfer, PRT's superhot response for the Winslow Case. Sophia's demeanour, her apparent immunity at school. It all makes sense now."

Lisa nodded, "Well deduced. How're you taking it?"

Taylor Shrugged, "my trust in authorities and the 'heroes' is at an all time low now. At least their response means they weren't complicit in it. But negligent, definitely. Anyway, I'm at peace with the results, though I won't mind hitting the bitches with a few bullet ants. So anyway, back to Coil, or Calvert, what's the plan for him?"

I replied, "I can share my power with Lisa right now and vanish her with a complete new identity, but she'll still have to go underground and the Undersiders may get some flak for it."

She shook her head, "Coil remains too much of a threat, and I don't want him to force other unwitting capes to work for him. I want to destroy him and take over his empire."

I raised an eyebrow, "Including his criminal activities?"

Lisa shook her head, "Actually, apart from being a creepy scumbag, his criminal activities are surprisingly tame, I've been researching for a while. Even if we discard all his obviously illegal businesses, his semi legal holdings and completely legit stocks and assets still amount to a not-so-small fortune. And it's all handled by the Number Man, so disentangling and discarding what we don't want will not be much of a problem." She turned to me, "I know Dev would be overjoyed to work with him on that."

I chuckled, "That he will, that he will. Anyway, to neutralize Coil the first step will be to gather a more concrete picture of his powers. I need a look at him."

Lisa smirked, "Day after tomorrow, meeting at PRT HQ, 9:30am."

I nodded at her and continued, "then, once we finalize the plan and ensure Coil won't need to directly interact with Tattletale during the next few days, so you can be added to the team, get used to the new powers and help with surveillance on him. Once the plan is in motion, you will have a very short window of action to transfer the assets."

Lisa sighed, "we'll also have to decide what to do with his mercs and other parahumans, if they can be let go cleanly I'm fine with that. If they have to be neutralized too..."

I shrugged, "Needs must." Taylor gave us a slight frown but didn't protest.

We hashed out other trivial details for the next few days' plans, I set Lisa up with the same panic button app that dada had. I also took a scan of her and gave her a refresh. We chatted a bit more and Lisa left. I took Taylor into an ID for another training session, high level mercs again, this time in full armor and with her expanded repertoire of bugs.

I sat down to meditate and go through some more of the organism scans I'd taken in the forest. Meanwhile she went full terror-swarm on them, using human-shaped masses of bugs to serve as distraction. I messaged her to start thinking of a cape persona fully based on bugs. She'll be mistaken as a weird case 53 and her real body can be anywhere within her huge range. She started refining the bug-bodies and soon got a Swarm Clone skill for it.

We stopped at around 5am as Taylor left to get her 2 hours of sleep. I continued going through scans of animals, trees, bugs, snakes and even a few birds I'd managed to tag. Biology was getting a great workout and levelling up in leaps and bounds. Speaking of biology, Amy would be dropping by later in the day to assuage Taylor's body image issues.

Thinking of Taylor's swarm clone skill, I wanted to try something, I prepared fleshcrafting with one of my own fresh scans, opened an inventory hole to my biomass store, and activated the skill. There was a blue flash, and a clone of me was lying in front of me.

 **ROB IS A DICK!**

 **A singular ego will not be allowed to have more than one discrete conscious instance!**

 **You're not Jango Fett.**

The body was comatose. Damn you Rob!

But wait, it said _discrete_ , what if it's part of a _continuous_ consciousness?

I fired up fleshcrafting as well as mana construction, scanned my superpositioned/entangled brain and willed the mana in the clone brain to turn it into another multitasking instance brain of mine. Suddenly one of my minds was in its own separate body.

This was an entirely new and quite disorienting experience. I stood up and looked at myself. My clone body had no mana or gamer skills, it was a baseline body... I tried to walk a bit, the moment I went out of my main body's 60cm mana projection range, I snapped back and watched the clone body fall back limp and comatose.

I needed a mana conduit into that body too. I walked into the range of the clone and repeated the multitask/entangling process. I was looking at myself looking at myself again. I dipped into my meditation in both bodies, the clone body did not have a mindscape separate from the multitasking mind's mindscape. I tried to push my main mana conduit into it.

It took a herculean effort but in the end something clicked, I came out of meditation... and nope, I'd just switched places, the original body was the clone now... Dammit!

Think laterally, think laterally Aveek! The main mana conduit is singular, it's my sole connection to the manaverse, of course it can't be duplicated, I don't even understand how it works! I dipped into my mindscape again and studied the conduit, it was inscrutable as ever. But the other dot beside it wasn't! That's Taylor's connection! I could replicate that!

I tried again, this time simply sending a forced party invite targeting the clone body and accepting it from there. It didn't quite work like adding a party member but it worked. A new dot was there, linked to my clone body. It still didn't have mana, but I/it had my gamer stats and non-mana skills! I walked away from myself, yes!

There was only one thing left to do.

I fought myself.


	30. Grind 4-7

**Grind 4.7**

 _January 13, 2011,_ _ _Dev's House -__ _Brockton Bay, 11:03 AM_

Grinding the NikuBunshin no Jutsu (I was so excited that I accepted the first suggestion from the AI) soon got it up to level 7, where I could maintain one clone body without mana drain even while boosting my mana-capable body and also keeping the permanently meditating mind active. I'd soon get some spare mana as it would keep leveling up. Also got the Swap Primary subskill to switch my main mana conduit between clone bodies.

I tried to make a clone from dada's body, it came out comatose, and I realized that if the neural connections to the spine were not my own - swapping in my multitask brain was a lot of work mapping out the right nerves to connect, unless I had the whole setup pre mapped and saved as an avatar. Made sense, it would be a ridiculously broken ability otherwise.

Amy called me to ask if it was okay to bring her sister with her. Maker had mailed her earlier and wanted to meet at my place (of course I did). I told her it was perfectly understandable, meeting with an unknown cape, good to have some backup. She said she'd be at my place in twenty minutes.

Taylor was already here, both nervous and excited. She soon reported that the two of them had arrived by car and had parked in front of our house. That was nice of them not to draw attention by flying in. I got the door for them, both of them were in costume. I was in my clone body.

"Hi Panacea, Glory Girl, welcome to my humble abode." Glory Girl gave a curt nod as they came in, guess she still resented me for calling her a master. She did have the bracelet that glowed faintly.

Amy smiled and shook my hand, "Hey Aveek, you've gotten even healthier, have you been seeing another healer behind my back?" Well, her general mood had improved much since the last time I saw her.

I gave a sheepish smile and shrug, "Different specialization, you're the only general biokinetic for me." Amy gave a chuckle, Victoria was having a hard time not to smile.

I introduced them to Taylor, "Panacea, Glory Girl, meet Taylor Hebert, my friend and neighbour. And you've already met Dev."

Victoria chimed in, "Well he's looking much better than I last saw him. Hello Taylor, did you guys know you're somewhat famous over the internet?"

I honestly hadn't given much thought to the forums where the Winslow incident was leaked. I facepalmed, "don't tell me they leaked the videos."

Victoria was apparently very satisfied with my discomfort, that was childish of her. Her smile was smug, "of course they did, don't worry, it'll pass. Though it's currently a hot topic once more because Dragon publicly acknowledged you as her inspiration for her newest product."

I sighed and nodded, "Yeah, she did ask me about the glasses soon after the incident, I got her in touch with the tinker who originally made them. I should have told her not to mention me in public." The DragonTech LookaGlasses (TM) (Named after LookaChupi, our Thanda surveillance tinker who collaborated with their design.) were supposed to hit the stores in the next few weeks. Good for the general public. LookaChupi had also contacted me and thanked me for making him rich. Dragon probably thought she was being nice by naming me in public...

Meanwhile Amy was giving Taylor a long once-over, did I see flash of mild arousal there? Huh, didn't know she batted for the other team in general, good for Amy. She turned to me and mock whispered, " _this_ girl has body image issues?"

Taylor was blushing hard, "I, I was much worse earlier, I've been working out with the help of Maker."

Amy extended her hand, "may I?" Taylor nodded and gave her hand, Amy took it and zoned out for a moment, hopefully the anyonymity protocols would hide her corona.

She nodded, "Pretty good work, almost as good as the tune-ups I give, though there are some genetic tendencies for a few common disorders, and some cellular health fixes..."

I interrupted her, "Amy, if you want to work on those, I'd recommend having Maker over. He would want to learn. Also, it would probably help you discuss your work with someone who actually understands it."

Amy nodded, "Call him over then."

I nodded, took out my phone and made a show of typing into it. The primary Maker Avatar was standing right behind clone me in a blank ID. Maker/I just dropped the ID and appeared with reality cracking VFX. Aveek/I made a show of flinching and looking behind, Victoria dropped into a combat stance, Amy was gaping, Taylor and dada both just rolled their eyes - meh, some people had no sense of dramatics.

Maker/I was using a top-half mask for the moment. As the full faceless look was both too inhuman and too intimidating, so I'd opened it up from below the nose. I'd crafted the face to have a wider jaw and ethnicity-neutral features (had to study averaged faces in the internet). I also had to develop my American English skills to a respectable level. Maker/I addressed everyone, "Hello Dev, Ladies, and Nerd."

Aveek/me made a face, "Ha bloody ha, everyone, this is Maker."

Dada made a show of waving at me, Victoria's stance relaxed, Amy gulped and nodded. Before either of me could say anything else, Taylor's emotions suddenly turned volatile and her eyes widened, she schooled her features quickly, I got a message from her ' _lone girl, being attacked by gangers, not enough time for me to send pain bugs._ ' and attached was a marker (we'd practiced this earlier, Taylor's bug sense made for a neat mini-map and after some trial and error she was able to send messages with a location highlighted in a pointillized mental map/thingy).

Maker/I immediately straightened up, "I just got an update from a cape friend, there's a girl being attacked by gangers nearby, Glory Girl, can I count on your assist?" Victoria was all business immediately, hovering a foot in the air. I turned to Amy, "Please go ahead with the cosmetic work, but hold the tuneups, I want to learn." Amy nodded.

I still didn't have enough mana capacity to sustain flight, boost and a clone together indefinitely, but it would be enough to fly this much. I had a tinker's image to maintain, so I constructed some vent-looking things on the back of my armor and made it spew motes of light like some futuristic jet. I too hovered up and headed for the door.

Aveek/me ran to the door and held it open, Maker/me flew out at full speed, Glory Girl right behind me. It was a short flight, about 3 blocks away, towards the docks region. Empire territory edge again, we came upon the alley that Taylor had marked out, two goons were beating up a young black girl viciously, while a third one was pointing a gun at her. Meanwhile Aveek/me had excused himself into the kitchen to make tea. I dropped the clone skill and focused the freed up mana into flight and boost. Before we could land a number of things happened.

Vicky suddenly careened out of her trajectory and slammed into a wall near the three, which startled them sufficiently to let go of the girl, she was in terrible shape, I was inundated with a number of messages.

 **Transdimensional communication detected. Analysing.**

 **Analysis complete, result saved - TriggerShardPing_genericQuery**

 **Transdimensional communication detected. Analysing.**

 **Analysis complete, result saved - TriggerShardPing_GloryGirl02**

 **Transdimensional effect detected. Analysing.**

 **Analysis complete, result saved - NoticeMeNotStranger01**

 **Response created, NoticeMeNotStranger01 effect negated.**

Another darknet rumour proved, when a new cape triggers, nearby capes collapse. And the girl, Aisha Laborn, just triggered. With a stranger effect of all things. The two thugs who were beating her were suddenly looking around disorientedly, the gun-toting goon pointed at Glory Girl and said "Shit! Cape!" and began unloading at her, she was getting up, her bracelet suddenly pulsing bright. I launched taser shots at all three of them. I got the two unarmed ones, but missed the gunner, who was suddenly backpedalling at full force, blind with panic, shooting even faster. The initial shots either missed or had no effect on Glory Girl, who was flying zig-zag towards the thug, but the last two shots were spaced too closely together, the second shot hit her thigh, she collapsed with a cry. I landed on top of the man, disarming him with a chop at his arm, then touch tasering and scanning him.

Glory Girl was panting while hovering. Her leg was bleeding profusely, I reached for her, "May I fix that?" She nodded weakly. I refreshed, cleansed and scanned her, then applied fleshcrafting, the bullet had gone through, it was a flesh wound, I reknit the muscles and skin the best I could, It wasn't a flawless job, but it would hold. I went to the girl now, she was still unconscious. I scanned her too, this was bad, there were several ruptured organs and she was bleeding internally, I patched whatever I could but there were still toxins coursing through her system and she was losing HP steadily, her status was showing poisoned and unconscious. Glory Girl looked at me with a puzzled expression, "what are you doing?!"

Oh, stranger effect, right, I mana boosted the girl, but it didn't negate the effect, made somewhat sense, the effect was on bystanders after all. I got a message from Taylor saying the police were informed and were coming over. I picked up the girl and walked over to Glory Girl. She was still having trouble looking at me, I touched her arm, didn't boost her, just focused on the mana to negate the stranger effect. She immediately looked at the girl and gasped, "she just triggered, didn't she?"

I nodded, "with a stranger power, I can negate it as long as I'm touching you. Listen, I couldn't heal her properly, I need to take her to Panacea. Will you handle the police when they come?"

She nodded, but replied with some confusion, "Won't I just forget about her the moment you let go?"

I nodded, "Possibly, also, freshly triggered cape, I believe the best course of action is not to out her to the police? You can just report it as stopping generic gang activity."

She sighed, "Works, I guess."

I let go of the blocking, she zoned out immediately, then looked at me, "I'll wait for the police, you go back to Amy." Ah, the stranger power was pretty specific in terms of what it wiped.

The girl's HP was critically low, I just healed her with the scan of her when I first patched her up. Her HP jumped up, but started dropping again. I messaged Taylor with an update and she asked me to come via ID, as there were eyes out in the neighbourhood after gunshots were heard. I complied, dropped into an ID with the girl and headed for home, periodically refreshing the girl to her half-healed state.


	31. Interlude 4-Amy

**Interlude 4. Amy**

 _December 27, 2010,_ _ _Dallon House -__ _Brockton Bay, 2:10 PM  
_ (After the first encounter with Aveek and Dev)

Amy returned home in a very pensive mood. Was that guy right? Was selflessly healing people in hospitals the wrong way to go about it? She'd often considered alternate uses of her power, but shut the thoughts down immediately when her power would suggest eldritch abominations to create. Which is why she'd actually lost track of what Aveek was saying after he mentioned retroviruses.

Her academic biology knowledge was at highschool AP levels, she hadn't learned much about retroviruses yet other than the definition. But the moment he used the word she understood what he meant - and a world of possibilities opened up. So many changes that could be brought at genetic levels, so many delivery methods. Of course there were a thousand and one ways to completely destroy a body using them, but there were also much subtler uses, and her power was actually suggesting different ways to combat a host of diseases. She'd started experimenting on the multiple microbes that resided on her skin, creating viruses that would die upon delivering their payload, or would die in a few seconds anyway.

The other thought that she was having the hardest time to try and _not_ think was the addiction thing he mentioned. Was that it? Was her love towards Vicky a mere overblown addiction? She desperately wanted it to not be so, she also wanted it to be so, regardless, the words somehow rang true. It was also weird how her whole worldview changed upon hearing a few sentences from a stranger. She knew that these weren't words or ideas she had never encountered before. But if she'd not verified that he didn't have a corona, she could swear he had a 'trust me' aura as strong as Vicky's 'love me' aura. But there were no parahuman powers at play, she heard the right words at the right time and they just sort of stuck with her. The other thing was how informal and non-fanboyish he was, somehow he came off as a guy who was no stranger to the cape world (a hunch that would be later confirmed).

He later mailed her with many more ideas. Some of them were really out of the box enough that she'd never thought in those lines ever. She'd just gone out, bought a carton of orange juice and a few slices of ham, and started experimenting. Creating and destroying different microorganisms, different types of tissues that could replace regular human tissues but would work much better. She got so engrossed with the experiments that for three days she didn't even pull extra shifts at the hospital.

She'd expected to feel a massive load of guilt and self-loathing for not healing enough people, but it just didn't happen. She was unusually cheerful! And the prospect of healing and helping millions of people instead of the few hundred drove her ahead. She exchanged a few more idea mails with Aveek, who had nothing but encouraging words for her. She finally even sat down to think about the addiction thing. Taking his advice, she built the bracelet for Vicky, though making her use it would be a different ball game altogether...

* * *

 _ _January 1, 2011, Brockton Bay, 9:57 PM__

She knocked and entered Vicky's room, they'd just had dinner. Vicky was sitting on her bed in her pyjamas, Amy's heart started the usual thumping but she resolutely ignored it. If it indeed was an addiction she'd know soon. She'd treated quite a few druggies to know that once the stimulant is removed from the system, the first symptom is withdrawal. So if she started to actually yearn for her more when bereft of her aura flares, counterintuitively, it would be proof of an addiction.

Vicky turned towards her, her face half illuminated by the dim lights in the room, gosh darned if she wasn't so heartrendingly beautiful... No! bad Amy! Don't indulge in the drug! The orb in the bracelet was glowing bright enough to shine through the cloth she was using to cover it. She cleared her throat, "uhm, hey Vicky."

"Hey sis, I thought you'd forgotten that I exist."

"What? No! It's nothing like that, I was busy making... this. I made something for you."

She lifted the cloth to show the bracelet, a delicate vine and leaf pattern in black to go around the wrist (which could actually photosynthesize much better than plant leaves), spiralling in towards an intricate white petaled flower (something needed to hold the mini-amygdala) whose centre pulsed with a white glow. She considered it a fine piece of craftsmanship, because despite looking delicate, it was pretty rugged in build, and would need maintenance only once a month or so.

"Woow! This is so pretty! You made this?" The delight was apparent in her eyes, Vicky quickly put it on and and pulled Amy into a hug that she almost melted into, the flower glowed all the more.

"Yep. Does it look good?" She pulled back from the hug.

"Good? This is amazing! I had no idea you had such design skills! How does it glow?"

"Well, that's the other thing it does, apart from look pretty that is. It measures your aura, you always keep complaining that you keep forgetting to dial it down out of combat situations."

"Wow, form and function! You made this in just three days holing up in your room?"

"Erm, yes. Yes, just three days." No, it took a couple hours, but she wasn't going to tell her that she was so busy experimenting with viruses and tissues that she actually forgot about her at times...

Vicky took a long look at it, admiring its craftsmanship, but slowly her expression turned pensive, then stormy, "Ames, you believed that Vic guy didn't you? You actually think I'm mastering people?" The flower was pulsing violently. Amy just pointed at it. Vicky closed her eyes and took deep breaths, the glow mellowed again, "Okay, I admit I have problems controlling it. But it's classified as a shaker effect."

"His name is Aveek. You heard what he said, I've checked people when they're affected by your aura Vicky, their brains do flood with endorphins... Not unlike certain drugs." Amy's voice was sterner, she'd debated long about telling her this, but it needed to be told. She did check Crystal and Eric discreetly during New Year's dinner last night at the Pelhams', their endorphin levels did spike in direct correlation to her own pangs of affection towards Vicky.

Vicky was fuming, the flower was glowing again. "You really think I'm a master? You think I mind-control people?"

Okay, now she was just being bratty, Amy snapped at her, "Is booze or weed some kind of master? Does a pack of smokes mind-control me?"

"Huh? What? Why'd it be?... Oh." Vicky shrank into herself, "Is it that bad?"

Time to take the plunge, "Vicky, listen, I don't blame you, we didn't know. I've never told you this before, but your aura, it makes me lo... love you... which... which is... nice. But would you want me to love you just for your aura? It's... It's uncomfortable at times." She changed the context midway, no use telling her now, it'd complicate things beyond control.

Vicky shook her head, her eyes were starting to water, "Of course not Ames! We're sisters! I'll wear this, I'll keep the glow down. You'll see, you'll still love me." She started sobbing. Amy pulled her into a hug, "I'm sure I will sis, I'm sure I will." Amy hoped with all her heart that she would not cease loving her sister, other than ceasing to love her _that_ way at least.

* * *

 _ _January 8, 2011,__ _ _Dallon House -__ _ _Brockton Bay, 6:27 PM__

The last week had been weird, the first 3 days she just wanted to tell Vicky to stop controlling her Aura, she was almost too distracted by Vicky's lack of 'presence' to even continue her experiments. The itch had lessened over the next few days, but it was not gone. Overall Amy was much more confirmed that it indeed was an addiction and she was going through withdrawal. Vicky did get a bit crabby at times from keeping tight control, Amy just told her to fly out, go up and flare her aura as much as she wanted, worked like a charm. Her use of aura during patrols apparently also had sharpened from blasting whenever she was agitated to more controlled flares. When Amy asked about it, Vicky had sheepishly replied she'd never tried to control it that hard before because she didn't think it was a big deal... And that she liked how everyone was nice to her. Amy's facepalm was legendary.

She still loved Vicky dearly, and it was still more than sisterly, but the pangs were much tamer. She could actually think through and identify the natural bits from the parts formed of years of addiction, or it might just be her rationalizing, but she considered it progress. There was another experiment that had shown huge progress - taking Aveek's advice for mental patients, she had considered all the knowledge of Mark's brain that she had. She knew the things she could change to fix his depression, but her rule for brains was her pillar, violating it even once would be going down the slippery slope. But she could bring about a similar effect with a drug regimen, when she thought of it, it was ridiculously simple, a combination of over the counter antidepressants and stimulants, delivered in a strict dosage schedule (She had to test if the drugs had the right molecules, it was as simple as dissolving a pill in orange juice and dipping her finger into it). That had worked wonders, Mark had had a consistent string of five good days - a feat unheard of before. That evening, Carol confronted her about it.

Carol had just come home from office, and had seen Mark cooking dinner. She'd called Amy over to her study, Amy came over, "Yes?"

"Have you changed Mark's medicines?"

"Yes. How's he been?"

"He seems... better. What exactly did you do?" Somehow Carol managed to insert an accusatory tone even in a wholly positive statement.

"I've been researching medicines. A friend of mine had recently asked me why don't I make wonder-drugs, that had got me thinking."

"So you picked Mark to Experiment on?"

"What? No! His regimen is made of simple over-the-counter medicines, I've just created a dosage plan from my knowledge of his biology. You know I understand his biology better than any doctor in the world, right?" Amy had taken some lessons from chatting with Aveek, number one was to be non-confrontational. Her improved mood helped too.

Carol gave her best skeptical look, but couldn't find a flaw in that, "I See. Please don't try anything untested."

Okay, time to put the money where her mouth was, "Absolutely! umm... actually, I needed some help from you about that."

Carol had her best suspicious glare ready, "About what?"

"I've been thinking. I could actually create drugs that could cure many diseases."

"Like tinkertech drugs?" Dammit Carol, could you stop being confrontational for once? But Amy knew her adoptive mother too well. She wasn't expecting her to be reasonable at all. Carol's motto was 'prepare for the worst, expect the worst, forget anything other than the worst' after all.

"No. I'm using my biological knowledge to create them, but the way they work is simple enough for an intern in a medical lab to understand. They work using real science." Yeah she was hamming it up, but it was Carol, subtlety would be utterly lost on her.

"how _do_ they work?"

"You know they're doing some new experiments in trying to cure HIV using genetic therapy?"

Carol nodded.

Amy shrugged, "I got the idea from the same principles. It works just like their delivery method, only with my biological knowledge, I can tailor the drugs not just to target HIV, but a bunch of other diseases, like different types of cancers, lou gehrig's, thalassemia, and a lot more" Jargon jargon don't mention viruses!

Carol was stumped for a second time. "I see. You want me to contact the hospital for you to test them?"

"No, I want you to help me apply for patents. Once I release their designs, any pharma company could mass produce them, they're not tinkertech. I want to patent and sell the designs so they could go through proper drug trials and then reach the masses. I can guarantee they work, but why should people take my word? If I don't sell the designs with a proper contract and stuff, the companies would just hoard the designs or overprice the drugs and they would never reach the general public! I want your help in speeding up and leakproofing the paperwork, this could save millions of lives!" She mentally thanked Aveek again, his tactic was prudent, use the right words and overload the target with information! She'd been preparing this speech since last few nights.

Carol was rendered speechless. For the first time in Amy's life, she saw her adoptive mother give her a stare that looked like she was actually impressed. "I... I see... Definitely, I'll help with those. Can you write me a proposal for each of your drugs and what it does? I'll have the patent section of my office go through them. Don't bother writing in too much detail, just give the general mechanism of action and the salient parts of your designs..." Carol picked up speed when it came to the legalese. Amy nodded along with a sincere face, mentally whooping and cheering.

* * *

 _ _January 13, 2011,__ _ _Dev's House -__ _ _Brockton Bay, 11:15 AM__

Meeting Aveek was a breath of fresh air again. When she'd asked Vicky to accompany her there was token resistance and grumbling, but she'd perked up at the mention of meeting a new cape.

Aveek's health was ridiculously good, even his skin biosphere didn't contain any harmful microbes. Amy was getting more and more interested to meet this Maker.

Taylor... wow, Taylor... Even in simple jeans and a top she looked like a supermodel. Vicky wouldn't have a taut physique like that even if she'd actually work out every day and not wait on Amy's tuneups. Sure she was a bit light up top but how could this girl have body image issues? Then she realized this was partly Maker's work too.

When she finally saw the cape in question... Okay, she'd seen the triumverate during endbringer battles, he had that level of sheer _presence_! The only cape she could recall with more presence was Narwhal. And his entry was another thing, appearing from a crack in the air like that? If her orientation hadn't been fudged by her addiction she'd probably fall for him just for that entry method.

And then he immediately took Vicky off saving some girl... Well, jumpy heroes gotta do what jumpy heroes gotta do. But the information she got from it was startling, he was not a solo cape, there was at least one more cape in his team, possibly some kind of a sensor type. No wonder Aveek didn't fanboy over her and Vicky. She asked Aveek about it, "So you know these guys for long?"

Aveek shrugged, "Quite long actually, they've only decided to come out in public as of now. He's a tinker y'know, if they come out without having enough stuff prepared, they'll just be abducted by some gang."

She nodded, "Who's the other cape."

Taylor piped in, "Her name is Swarm, she's a bit... reclusive. Case 53."

Amy made an 'ahh' face, "I see. If there's any way I can help her..."

Aveek shook his head sadly, "I don't think even you can, anyway, if you're lucky, you'll get to meet her, Taylor is the one that talks to her most of the time. Anyway, tea or coffee? I'll let you guys go on with the, ahem, enhancements. Do you need a separate room?"

Dev interjected, "Seems like a good cue for me to leave for work. Guys, give me a call if you need anything. And best of luck." He gave Taylor a thumbs up and took his leave.

Amy shook her head, "No, no need for a separate room, Taylor won't even need to take her top off... Unless she wants to...Ahem, coffee, I'll have coffee. I guess Vicky too. Also, if you can give me some uncooked fatty meat?"

Aveek nodded, "For biomass right?"

Amy gave him a smile, it was so nice to deal with people who understood stuff, Aveek smirked, "I'll do you one better, wait." He went in and came back with a jug of some kind of sludge. She took it and dipped her finger into it... wow, this was ideal to build almost any kind of biology out of. She asked again, "Let me guess, Maker makes this?"

Aveek nodded, "I'll go make the beverages, I'll take my time, holler when you're done or need anything."

She got to working with Taylor, thankfully, the girl didn't want to be top heavy or anything, she asked Amy to stop when her assets were just noticeable, gotta give the girl credit, that much went really well with the rest of her figure.

Amy hollered at Aveek that they were done, Taylor just chuckled and said, "Heh, he'll come when he'll come, he's very particular about his brews."

Amy giggled, "Discerning gentleman is he?"

Their conversation soon devolved into girl talk. After a while Taylor took out her phone again, "one moment... Swarm just sent me the details, I should call the police." Amy gave her a worried look. She shook her head, "nothing bad." Then she called 911, "Gang activity near the steel factory at the edge of the docks, Glory Girl and another cape have neutralized the situation, you guys might want to come over and pick up the gangers." She hung up.

"You seem fairly used to this?" Amy asked.

Taylor shrugged, "Swarm avoids making calls, her voice sounds weird."

Amy nodded sympathetically, she'd met quite a few case 53s, worst thing was that their biology was enforced by their powers, even if she managed to fix anything, it reverted as soon as she let go. Taylor checked her phone again, "Okay, the girl who was attacked triggered with a stranger power and was badly injured, Maker can't heal it all by himself, he's stabilized her and is bringing her over for you. Maker can negate the stranger effect, but he'll have to be touching you for it to work."

Amy got into business mode and nodded sharply, "got it. Prep the couch please."

Taylor immediately went in, got a plastic sheet from somewhere and Aveek came in too, they spread the sheet on the couch while Amy put the cushions away.

Maker appeared in the middle of the room again through the telltale blue crack, was he a teleporter or something? What was he doing in the middle of the room? What was all the urgency about again? Amy had a lot of trouble focusing on him. He quickly came to Amy and touched her (over her sleeve, Amy noted).

He was carrying a black girl in his arms. He quickly put her down in the couch, then told Amy, still keeping his hand on her shoulder, "Multiple ruptured organs and leaked fluids in her system, I couldn't patch it all, can I scan while you heal?"

Amy nodded and got to work, Maker kept his other hand on the girl and she kept glowing blue, Amy did her usual commentary, this time with more of a teaching tone, "Clearing the toxins first... Done. Patch job is decent, but the tissues are not properly shaped and melded... fixed, increasing heart rate for more oxygenation. You've already taken care of cuts and bruises, but the subdermal cells have not been uniformly regrown in the heavier areas... here... and here... Finally, fixing the breaks in the ribs... All done. See how I left some adrenaline in the system? She'll wake up by herself in a short while." Maker kept nodding throughout the process. Then the girl stopped glowing once Amy was done.

Maker removed his hand from the girl, "Recorded all of that. Thanks."

Amy was curious, "You'll be able to do that from now onwards?"

He shook his head, "I'll have to go through the scan and understand the process before I can replicate it."

"So understanding it is not part of your power?"

"Not really, my power gives me increased understanding in general, but I have to study things first. Thankfully I can scan almost anything and then study the scans to learn more."

Amy nodded, "Now if you remove your hand from me, I'll not be able to notice the girl again?"

Maker nodded, "I think so, I think we should wait for her to wake up, she might be able to control the effect. Otherwise you'll be like them..." He pointed at Aveek and Taylor, who were casually chatting amongst themselves, Aveek turned at them, and said, "What? What are you doing huddling there?" Taylor had a confused expression too.

Amy couldn't help but snort, "Nothing, nothing, you guys continue, we'll let you know later." The two shrugged and went back to chatting.

The girl woke up in a minute or so, she sat bolt upright and screamed, "Cocksuckers! Get away from me!" Then she noticed her surroundings, then Maker and Amy, "Wh... Where am I? You! You're fucking Panacea!"

Maker nodded, "Yes she is, Glory girl got the thugs, we brought you here to be healed." He was articulating slowly and precisely.

The girl was still nervous, "Goo..Good. Serves them right, they got me pretty bad didn't they? Kicked the shit out of me when I mouthed off at them. And now I'm mouthing off at you."

Amy took her hand, "Relax, take a few deep breaths" the girl complied, "what's your name?"

"A..Ai..Aileen Bonnet"

"You know I can tell when people are lying? Don't be nervous, we mean you no harm. What's your name?"

The girl gulped, "Aisha, Aisha Laborn"

"Very good, Aisha, you triggered due to the traumatic experience. You're a parahuman now. Can you feel your power?"

"Fuck! Fucking Scion's balls! I'm a cape! Powers! Yes! Yes, I can feel it! It's like a lever in my head that I can crank up. What's it do?"

Maker took over, "Is it completely at the bottom now?"

She nodded, "Should I try pushing it up?"

Maker nodded, "Slowly."

She had a concentrating expression in her face, soon Taylor turned at them with a bewildered expression, "There's someone else there!"

In another few seconds, Aveek, who had followed Taylor's lead and was looking too, piped up. "It's a kid."

Aisha snapped, "I'm not a kid, I'm twelve!" Amy snorted again, "ignore them Aisha, keep cranking it up."

Taylor piped in again, "Hey, you're the one who Maker brought in. Are you all right? What's your name?" Aveek nodded, "Yeah, that's her."

Aisha was confused this time, "I told you guys, it's Aisha. Weren't you listening the first time?"

Maker shook his head, "Aisha, your power is a stranger power, when the lever is low, people don't know you exist, they can't see you, they find it hard even to look where you are. And when the lever is up, everything's back to normal." He finally let go of Amy's shoulder, she nodded too.

Aisha still looked confused, "But, it's... it's still not fully up yet! It's about halfway! How could you guys speak to me earlier then?" Then she looked at Maker, "What's your power? Who are you?"

Maker replied, "I'm Maker, a new tinker, I have anti-master-stranger tech on me. I could see you, and when I was touching Panacea she could see you."

Aisha nodded blankly again, "So should I crank it fully up?"

Amy nodded, "Again, slowly."

Aisha had the concentrating expression again, "by the way, what's the time?"

Maker replied, "Not late, less than an hour since you were attacked."

Amy waited in rapt attention for what Aisha would reply, what an interesting person!

Aisha gave a wide grin, "There! Fully up!"

Amy hung on to each word of hers, she took in all of the girl, her face, hair, clothes, it seemed like she could stare at her for ages, and she'd never forget anything Aisha did or said.

Taylor and Aveek also watched with amazing intensity. A few bugs came from nowhere and sat on her head and shoulders. Everyone kept watching the spectacle. Maker chuckled, "Well, now you've got everyone's attention. So Aisha, your lever cranks up from 'don't notice me' to 'notice only me', keep it cranked up, now tell Panacea to count from one to ten."

Aisha shrugged and told Amy, "Panacea, count from one to ten."

Panacea nodded, eyes wide, "Sure, but why?"

Maker sighed with relief, "Good, it's not a master power. No mind control there. You can bring it back down midway Aisha."

Aisha nodded, everyone other than maker shook themselves as they snapped out of the daze, Taylor asked, "So at the opposite end you become the most interesting thing ever?"

Aisha shrugged, "Guess so. Cool power. I can be a badass spy or a kickass celebrity, like Canary. Or a fucking awesome celebrity spy! Hey! What the fuck?! If I let go of the lever it starts slowly cranking down!"

Amy nodded, that was much like Vicky's aura, needed constant focus to suppress. "Yes, you'll need to practice keeping it midway all the time, or else you'll out yourself in no time."

Aisha frowned, "How? If I slip won't they just forget?"

Amy shook her head, "When you crank it back up, they'll remember that they forgot." Both Taylor and Aveek nodded at that.

Aisha gulped, "I see, hey, You... You're the good guys right? You won't out me right? Like there are rules... Right?"

Maker nodded, "There are rules, but I have simpler rules, whatever kind of cape you be, if you cause damage to civilians knowingly, I'll out you immediately and come after you. You see, I'm not a bad guy, but I'm not a good guy either." His face had a very feral grin.

Amy frowned, there was no need to frighten the child like that, but then again, if that speech is given to every fresh cape, there'd be lesser villains.

Aisha chuckled nervously, "Heh, you're kidding, no you're not kidding. Uh, Why'd I damage civilians anyway? It's not like I'm going to be a villain or something, right?"

Maker shrugged, "good question. Now, you better take my number. You're a parahuman now, and gangs will come wanting you in their roster. If anyone bothers you who you can't take by yourself, or you want to do something with your powers to help people and want advice, call me. I've friends who can help. Some very nice and some very scary friends." A blue flash and there was a card with a number on it, and a spiral symbol same as on Maker's chest.

Amy wondered if Aveek's manner of speech was somehow a more pacifist version of Maker's. Maybe one of them did influence the other.

Aisha gulped again, "Thanks man. Look, I'll owe you guys one, I gotta go home now. Um... Can I?"

Maker nodded, "Sure, can you find your way back? You're about 3 blocks away from where you were attacked."

Aisha hurriedly nodded again, "Yea sure, I'm not a kid."

She left soon after. Vicky came in a few minutes after Aisha left, "Hey guys, I saw the girl leave, what did I miss?"

Taylor asked first, "You remembered her?"

Vicky nodded, "At first I didn't, but after Maker left with her, the memories slowly came back, by the time the police were leaving I remembered her completely... I guess in about 10-15 minutes or so. I didn't mention her though." She added, looking at Maker, "And thanks for the heal man, first time being healed by someone other than Ames here."

Amy's expression immediately turned worried, "What happened to you?"

Vicky waved her hand, "Don't worry, I'd passed out from the kid triggering and was too woozy to dodge..."

"You passed out?"

"You know how it works Amy, triggers always make nearby capes pass out. Anyway, I was too woozy, and the guy double tapped me."

"You got shot?!" Amy quickly grabbed her hand, "Oh... ah, Thanks Maker, again, decent patch job. But there would remain some internal micro-scarring. You want to learn how to fix it?"

Maker nodded, and held out a hand towards Vicky, "May I?"

Vicky shrugged and smirked, "Go ahead, let my body be your shrine."

Amy blushed a deep crimson, Maker just chuckled and kneeled holding Vicky's other hand, then turned to Amy, "Teach me Sensei!" Vicky started glowing blue, she just looked at herself and said, "Oooh!"

Amy snorted, Aveek meanwhile had come out with Tea, Coffee and some kind of fritters. He and Taylor were just enjoying the show.

Amy let go, "All done, you got that?"

Maker nodded, standing up, "Yep, aligning the cell walls and melding them, and fixing the capillaries. Got it. Will have to study it later properly."

Amy smiled, "By the way, Vicky passed out, you didn't? Same anti master/stranger tech? What is your tinker speciality actually? If you don't mind me asking?"

Maker shrugged, "Not at all, my speciality is actually dimensional effects. The thing is, most parahuman powers depend on some kind of dimensional effect. One of my first projects was to protect myself from them. Only the pure dimensional bits though, A punch from Glory Girl or a blast from Lady Photon would still damage me normally, because even though they're caused by dimensional effects..."

"The force is physical. Makes sense." Vicky completed the sentence. Maker nodded, "Precisely, sadly I can't still make the tech work without proximity to me. Anyway, let's have our refreshments, then I'd like to repay Sensei for her lessons."

They all got around the table, the snacks vanished quickly, Aveek went in and got some more, Vicky really liked the mint and pepper sauce he served it with, "Hey man, these are great, you made these?"

Aveek nodded, "Indian recipe. They're called pakoras."

Amy cut in, "So how're you planning to repay me?" She asked Maker.

Maker grinned, "What would you give to make some modifications to yourself?"

Amy gaped, "A. Lot. I'll teach you tons of other things... I'll show you how to..."

Maker grinned and held out his hand, "Deal!"

Amy was still blabbering as she took his hand, the moment she took it, she flashed blue, and she felt cleaner and fresher than she ever had. "Wow, what was that?"

Maker smirked again, "I cleaned you of dirt, dust and fatigue, then scanned you. These are some of the basic things I've learned and can do in a jiffy."

Amy nodded, "You also cleaned the nonessential bacteria from my skin. Pretty neat. I wondered how Aveek and Taylor had such healthy skin. Now I know."

Maker nodded, everyone was done with the snacks, Maker swiped a hand at the couch, "Join me, O great sensei, to the next step of upgrading yourself."

Amy chuckled and followed him. Maker lifted the sheet from the couch and waved it like a magician, there was a blue flash behind the sheet, when he put it back on the couch, it was distinctly covering a body. He reached in and pulled out a hand from the couch, and gestured to Amy, "All yours."

Amy took a hold of the hand and... Holy fuck! That was her! She could feel herself with her power! The brain was slightly off though, it was comatose. She understood the reason, of course he would not create a fully conscious clone. "Wo...Wow... Wow. So I just change whatever I want and you'll apply the same changes to me?" He nodded.

"Give me a big jug of that bio-sludge of yours, and record the changes carefully." She went wild.


	32. Power Listing

**POWER LISTING AS OF INTERLUDE 4**

Readers interested purely in the story aspect feel free to skip this section. It's here only for documentation.

 **Base Gamer Powers:**

 **Gamer's Body ( ):** Keeps him at 100% physical condition until HP drops to zero or some status effect interferes. Injuries don't show on him unless he forces them to appear using anonymity protocols. Biological needs are negated. Body's capability scales with statpoints. These effects are applied on to any avatar his main body or any clone body is wearing. - abilities slowly develop for new party members

 **Gamer's Mind ( ):** Full emotional spectrum control, which to feel and which to show. AI assist (only available to someone who has both gamer's mind and body at max level) analyzes and negates any dimensional power that affects the body or the mind. Anonymity protocols can simulate responses of a person with lesser stats and/or knowledge. Also allows full mental control of the whole gamer system, including skills, messages and commands. - abilities slowly develop for new party members

 **Knowledge Skill Tree:** All the knowledge he absorbs (from books, ebooks, articles, manuals, videos, practise, diving into scans) which are basically translated into experience, skills for all the Sciences, Arts, Crafts, Strategy, Tactics, Languages, Techniques, Mind hacks... etc... some of these can even translate into muscle/behaviour memory (martial arts / intimidate etc.) otherwise they are mostly pure understanding and knowledge. Any of these skills and subskills, when learnt by any team member, is available to be absorbed by anyone else. - in simpler words: It's like Uber's skills but needs to be learnt from materials and developed with experience, and is permanent.

Some of the mentioned knowledge skills (there are a lot others, the MCs currently have university level competence in almost all common fields):

 **Unarmed Combat**

 **\- Martial Arts**

 **Weapons**

 ** **-** Swords**

 ** ** **-**** Whips**

 ** ** **-**** Throwing Weapons**

 **Physics**

 ** ** **-**** Dimensional Physics**

 ** ** **-**** Electronics**

 **Chemistry**

 ** ** **-**** Explosives**

 **Biology**

 ** ** **-**** Anatomy**

 ** ** **-**** Entomology**

 ** ** **-**** Neurology**

 **Mathematics**

 **Negotiation**

 ** ** **-**** Intimidation**

 ** ** **-**** Lying**

 **Military Strategy**

 ** ** **-**** Military Tactics**

 **Fashion**

 **Psychology**

 ** ** **-**** Criminal Psychology**

 ** ** **-**** Behavioural Psychology**

 **\- Negotiation  
 ** **- ** **\- Deception********  
**

 **Occlumency**

 ** ** **-**** Mind Mapping**

 ** ** **-**** Mnemonics**

 ** ** **-**** Learning Techniques**

 ** ** **-**** Time Management**

 **Running**

 ** ** **-**** Sprinting**

 **Gymnastics**

 ** ** **-**** Acrobatics**

 ** ** **-**** Stunts**

 ** ** **-**** Parkour**

 **Medicine**

 ** ** **-**** First Aid**

 ** ** **-**** Shiatsu**

 **Languages** ** ** **-**** English**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Indian**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** American**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** British**

 ** ** **-**** Hindi**

 ** ** **-**** Bengali**

 ** ** **-**** Hebrew**

 ** ** **-**** Chinese**

 ** ** ** ** **-**** \- ****Cantonese**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Mandarin**

 ** ** **-**** Korean**

 ** ** **-**** Japanese**

 ** ** **-**** Urdu**

 ** ** **-**** Arabic**

 ** ** **-**** French**

 **Programming**

 ** ** **-**** Algorithms**

 **Predicate Logic**

 **Performing**

 ** ** **-**** Singing**

 ** ** **-**** Dancing**

 ** ** **-**** Magic**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Sleight of Hand**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Misdirection**

 ** ** **-**** Oration**

 ** ** **-**** Juggling**

etc. etc.

Upon reaching certain max levels, some skills can prestige or evolve into better skills, some can even combine under meta-skills.

 **Message Buffer:** An ability available to everyone in the party (in different levels), allows sending information, memories, even feelings and abstractions as messages, allows storing and accessing observe, scan, analysis and response results. In general a filesystem for the whole gamer experience.

 **Inventory:** Available to all party members. Each inventory slot is a time-stasis pocket universe where items (and simple organisms) can be stored and retrieved from. Some skills can use items from the inventory directly (like at its current level fleshcrafting can pull biomass directly from the inventory). Equipment/armor/clothes/accessories can also be worn/wielded directly from inventory.

 **Mana Skill Tree:** Mostly procedural, but intent can be used to program and create new skills. Only Available to Aveek via the **Mana Capacity** skill.

 ** ** **-**** Observe: **At current level, can provide the identity/s, class, title, stats, description and status effects of a target. Identity and Description can often have information otherwise unknowable (From Akashic Records). Information can reduce when target level is more than 50 levels higher than MC. Observed levels don't correspond directly to stats, they're more of a threat assessment.

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Social Empathy: **Gives the approximate emotional state of a target.

 ** ** **-**** Mana projection: **Ability to manifest mana within a certain range from the primary body, (currently 65cm) Mana glows Cherenkov Blue. ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana construct: **Shape raw mana into objects that mimic matter, structure can be gotten from blueprints/scans or freeform intent. Constructs need connection to a mana source to be sustained, they dissipate when they are completely out of projection range. Constrained by complexity (currently around 800nm) and mass.

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************ Persistent construct: **Constructs and intentful shaped mana can survive (currently a few seconds) outside projection range. (how taser bullets are made)

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana conversion: **Convert raw mana into different forms of energy.

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************ Electromagnetic: **Electric fields, magnetic fields, currents, electromagnetic radiation. (used for touch taser and)

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************ Kinetic: **Force vectors.

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************ Matter: **Pushing enough mana into a construct to turn it into matter.

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************?** (TBD)

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana Scan: **Projects mana, scans and records target - completely (up to quantum/dimensional levels). Scans can be dived into and processed while meditating. Knowledge skills and statpoints may be required for understanding certain scans. Targets glow blue. ** ** **-**** Instant Dimension: **Creates a localized pocket dimension (currently a few kilometres in effective radius) which is a construct copy anchored to reality, mostly structures only. Can be populated with construct mooks (only level configurable currently) for training. Targets can be carried into and out of IDs. One ID must be collapsed before another is formed.

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Re-Anchor: **Changes the localization anchor of an ID. Useful to travel long distances without collapsing the ID.

 ** ** **-**** Dimensional Breach: **Create a localized sustained hole between two dimensions. Currently only between the ID and the anchored dimension. Cost increases with hole area. ** ** **-**** Crafting (superskill):** Many knowledge skills and scans contribute to blueprints. ** ** **- ** **-******** Fleshcrafting: **Using mana to move biological components around, slow when freeform, fast when using scans.

 ** ** ** ** ** ** **-**** \- ****\- ****Heal: **Fleshcraft procedures that have been already learned (like fixing bruises, cuts and scrapes currently)

 ** ** ** ** ** ** **-**** \- ****\- ****Refresh: **Remove biological effects of fatigue.

 ** ** **-**** Freeform Mana Skills: **Using a mix of constructs/conversion/intent programming. ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana Cleanse: **Cleans the target, thoroughly.

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana Boost: **Boosts the physical abilities of the target. (Currently +20 to all statpoints)

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Apply Response: **If a response file has been created from a dimensional effect analysis, the response can be applied to targets to negate the same effect.

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Flight**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Force push/shotgun/snipe/slice**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Taser touch/shots**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Mana Lasers**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Weapon constructs **(any non powered weapon at current level)

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Armor constructs**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** Multitasking**

 ** ** **- ** **-******** NikuBunshin **(Flesh Clones)

 ** ** **- ** **- ** **-************ Swap Primary**

 **etc.**

 **Finally, word of caution, not saying this is the absolute sum of his abilities, and not saying these definitions are going to be perfectly accurate to the word, but more of a general idea. I might want to write something that goes against or beyond any of these and wouldn't hesitate to wave my hand and justify it.**

Also - remind me if I missed something?


	33. Snake 5-0

**Snake 5.0**

 _January 13, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 5:32 PM_

Amy went on for hours. She really got into the role of the teacher, creating different kinds of common injuries, diseases and disorders in her clone, then fixing them. She constantly kept up a running commentary, explaining what she was doing, adding tips and tricks on variations of the methods. Once she was confident that I'd gotten a basic hang of healing most common conditions, she moved on to enhancements.

She demonstrated tons of modifications, some temporary, some that needed maintenance, some that were apply-and-forget, even some that could be woven into DNA and would carry on into offspring. Most of the modifications had secondary requirements/connections that I'd have not noticed without her showing me. I also asked her to show me the trick of making people unconscious instantly, it would make a much better incapacitating attack than the touch taser. She showed me more than one way to do it. I was lapping all the info up; just listening to her commentary while keeping an eye on the ongoing scan had leveled up Biology twice!

I had to refresh her a few times when she looked like she was tiring. Victoria soon got bored of listening to her and Aveek/I took her to the kitchen to help cook lunch. She did mention that she hadn't seen Amy this exuberant in years. After a while of chatting she also eased up around Aveek/me and apologized about getting defensive about the aura issue last time. That was nice of her.

Taylor spent her time between the two groups, sometimes joining the kitchen crew in their chitchat. Sometimes sitting with Amy and me, adding ideas or words of encouragement to our session. She also ferried a couple more rounds of tea.

We took a break for lunch, Maker/I recycled the clone for the while and joined in. Aveek/I peppered Amy with more ideas about modifications, quite a few of which apparently tickled her fancy and she said she'd need to experiment more before she could build working enhancements out of them. We figured out a date in the following week for our next session. It was Victoria who reminded us that they had to get back and Amy still hadn't decided upon the exact set of upgrades that she wanted for herself. We finished lunch, I recreated the clone and we got on to it.

It didn't take Amy much time to decide, she went for a number of cosmetic changes, added a few inches to her height, gave her figure a mild tuneup and reshaped it to a slightly more lithe frame. She also activated some key hormones to further boost and tone up her figure, enhance her... um, privates and assets (thankfully she was very clinical while explaining those bits), grow her hair out, and clean up her skin. It would be better for those changes to not happen all at once, otherwise a jarring visual difference would be just that, jarring.

When it came to internal upgrades, the changes were much more significant; some tissue types were completely replaced while others changed noticeably. Different kinds of muscles, a sturdy subdermal layer, fully redone CNS, heightened senses, much denser bones, some redundant systems (she mentioned she'd gotten quite a few of them from Aegis)... Most changes wired right down to the genetic level, she was playing for keeps. She also made a few changes to her neurotransmitter mechanisms which she didn't explain and gave me a pointed 'Don't ask' look.

Finally she edited her DNA to get rid of some disease markers and then made the statement which dropped all of our jaws:

 _"Hmm, I think we're done with the groundwork. Maker, if you would please apply these for now. When we meet next week I'll show you some 'real' upgrades."_

Right... Biotinker much? I asked her to just remove the parts of the brain that she didn't want changed, including the whole comatose parts, that deletion would obviously kill the body, but it would help me make a delta scan for the scant few brain modifications which were required to integrate the new CNS, sensorium and neurotransmitter system. She also upped her brain's plasticity regulators. She was quite nervous about the whole brain thing, but I reassured her that I could restore everything in a flash if there was anything amiss. She didn't make any changes that would affect her personality or ego anyway if my neurology knowledge served me right.

I performed the final delta scan, then recycled the clone body. Then I asked her to lie down and took a fresh scan of her. It took me about 10 minutes at 5X multitasking to apply the delta scan on the fresh scan and make sure it was seamless right down to the atomic level. Then came the moment of truth, I asked Amy, "Do I have your permission to upgrade you?"

She smiled nervously, "Go on."

I took her hand and applied fleshcrafting with the upgrade file. A blue flash and there she was, I know she tried to be subtle with the cosmetic enhancements but the difference in attractiveness was still remarkable! Her Panacea robes were suddenly quite constricting. I checked her stats, CHA was up by 4, STR by 11, DEX by 13, VIT by a whopping 19! Even INT got a +3 boost, for the upgraded CNS and senses possibly.

She sat up with an unnervingly fast motion, blinked a few times, and frowned, radiating surprise and confusion, "You _applied_ the _changes_ already? I _thought_ you _were_ just _going_ to _scan_ me?" She was speaking in fast forward.

I'd figured this confusion would happen, I raised my hand, "Wait, your memories have reverted to the last scan ten minutes ago. Here, watch this." I held out my hand, palm upwards, changed the armor glove construct to show a lens like thingy and just used a light construct to project the memory our last interaction before the upgrade like a miniature hologram. Got to maintain the tinker cover.

She nodded (it was more like a sharp jerk), "Oh, I _see_ , well, ten _minutes_ of _lost_ memory _is_ definitely _worth_ this. Hopefully _nothing_ important _happened_. You _don't_ need _to_ speak _slowly_ at _me_ , I _feel_ fine, _better_ than _fine_ actually!"

I shook my head, "No, Amy, I'm not speaking slower, your perceptions are faster, you need to speak slower actually."

Victoria chose to pipe in, "You're a budget Velocity now? He needs to deal with this shit all the time! By the way, looking real good there sis." She winked saucily at Amy. I groaned internally, how on earth was Amy going to recover from her addiction if Victoria kept giving out these signals?

Amy blushed, "Th-thanks, _got_ a _mirror_ around _here_ somewhere?" She was still speaking rapidly.

Aveek/I nodded, "in the other room, come with me, and slow down. If your speech has gotten faster, your movements will definitely be affected."

Amy nodded again, "Oookay. Gooot iiiit" Now she was just trying too hard. Both Victoria and Taylor couldn't hide their chuckles.

Amy tried to stand up from the couch, ended up leaping three feet into the air. Victoria flew up and caught her. Aveek/I shook my head "never mind, no need to come with me, first get used to moving, I'll get you a mirror."

It took her about 15 minutes to get her movements and speech to any semblance of normalcy, they were still very jerky. But Amy was not worried about the transition, "It's okay, this _is_ to _be_ expected. My freshly plastic brain would adapt to this quickly. On that note, good work Maker. I don't feel any unexpected _changes_ in memory or thoughts." She was getting hang of the speech tempo already.

I shrugged, "the good work is all yours, I'm just the executor. Do you want to do a check on your latest status?"

She was stretching and flexing her independent muscle groups at a controlled pace. She nodded. I took another scan of her and created a clone under the sheet again. She put a finger on it, concentrated for a while, and nodded, "All good, very nice job with the brain. Doing it in phases was a good idea. The progressive changes have already started to work, they'll settle by next week. Then we can move on to the good stuff."

I smiled, recycled the clone and nodded, "I look forward to it. It'll also take me at least that long to learn and understand all that you've taught me today." If not more, there was a ton of info to be gleaned from the hours long scans.

Victoria was getting impatient, "Cool, now before you guys start nerding out again, we should call it a day."

Amy turned towards me, "Yes, we'll make a move. Thank you again for this, Maker, I never expected to be able to circumvent my limitations like this. See if you can get Swarm to join us next time, we're used to case 53s, I promise we won't freak out. Also, you should join me in a hospital shift once you're confident of replicating the healing tricks I showed you. It'll probably help you learn more. And I'll help you with the certification process." Ah, so nice of you to help me grind, Amy. I was definitely going to take that offer up sometime.

I nodded. "After our next session then. I'll practice on clones and you can check the work before we do that. See you next week."

Victoria was already at the door, "Oh Taylor, don't forget, I'll call you when we take Ames out shopping, she'll need new clothes to go with her supermodel body." Taylor smiled and nodded. Then Victoria turned to where both of my bodies were standing, "Hey man, anyone who can cook that well is good in my books. Maker, join us for training and patrols sometime?"

Maker/I nodded. Aveek/I gave her a thumbs up. Further goodbyes were exchanged with Amy and they left. Once Taylor confirmed that they'd driven off, I inventoried my construct armor, switched primary to the Aveek body and recycled the Maker body. The flesh clone skill went up a few more levels.

Taylor left when she sensed Danny coming home. Dada came back from work soon after, I gave him the highlights of the day. He seemed contemplative for a while, then replied with a smirk, "Bro, you just spent the day with four pretty girls. Neither of them are your girlfriend, who is another pretty lady I met yesterday. You know what? I take back all the things I said about social interactions, keep up the good work!" He gave me a double thumbs up. I facepalmed.

I went to my room and eagerly dove into the scans from the day. It was already night when dada called to ask if I wanted dinner, I refused. Biology and Heal were leveling up like anything. Understanding the scans was getting progressively easier too. Finishing processing all these before the next session with Amy was a real possibility now.

The doorbell rang sometime around 10:33 in the night. I got the door, it was Lisa, she looked slightly nervous. I ushered her in.

She held out her hand, I cleansed us and refreshed her. Then she gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. Have I mentioned how much I liked the cleanse skill? She was still slightly nervous though, "Ask Taylor to check if the tail has left?" I complied, Taylor messaged me back saying that a van with only two men had followed her car, they left once Lisa entered my house. Neither of us had gotten any precog scan warnings, so we were secure. I nodded at Lisa, "We're clear. What's up?"

Her nervousness increased a bit, "I may have messed up. Coil suspects something."


	34. Snake 5-1

**Snake 5.1**

 _January 13, 2011, Brockton Bay, 10:36 PM_

I frowned, I thought we'd been cautious enough, "Do we need to prepare for hostilities?"

She shook her head, "Hopefully not, good news is, you're completely in the clean. Coil actually complimented me on my choice of date, he probably meant it as an implicit threat and leverage. I found it flattering, because he couldn't hide the fact that he was impressed. So yeah, he has eyes on you, but entirely as a civillian of interest." She added with a wink.

I nodded, "That is expected. So why do you think he's suspicious?"

Her brow crinkled a bit, "He's suspicious of me. I was very careful not to let out anything, in fact I was mentally prepared to blow my brains out if I felt that I was going to be compromised - To beat his precog, that is. The meeting was going pretty well too. But his demeanour suddenly changed near the end. I don't know what triggered it, my power insisted that he wasn't looking into the future. I was all the more convinced that something twigged him off when he ordered me to plan an Undersider heist of an ABB holding. Sure it was not something out of his character, but this move was to come much, much later in his plans. Something has shaken his trust in me and in extension the Undersiders, and for the life of me I can't figure out what!" Her frustration was quite evident.

I was slightly confused, "He wants you to poke the dragon intentionally?"

She nodded, "It's either a sacrificial move, which is unlikely - or he wants to ingratiate himself with us by aiding us when the ABB retaliate."

I nodded, "I see. Do you think we're wrong about his power? He's not a precog?"

She shook her head, "No, that's what's stumping me. The limited precog concept fits him to a T, but I think we're still somewhat clueless about the exact application that he uses."

I nodded, "I'll be getting better info tomorrow. So how's your schedule looking? Can you spare about a week without meeting him?"

She sighed, "I'm not sure, we've already planned the hit, I called an emergency meeting of the Undersiders today. We're going to hit the Ruby Dreams Casino near the end of the month, preferably the day before they move most of their money out, which my power tells me would be around the 30th. The problem is, Coil would call on me at least twice during this time, and surprise meetings are a thing he loves to spring. Also, if we are to usurp his financial empire, each of those meetings is more chance for me to pick up more info. But once we make the hit, he'll probably leave me alone till ABB retaliates, which would take around 10 days for Oni Lee to sniff us out."

I shook my head, "Leave recon to me. I'll be tailing him nonstop. You just keep clean of Coil's radar. Also, probably best not to have the suicidal mindset, it could be the thing that raised his hackles. Best keep a cleaner intent of simply not revealing anything."

She shrugged, "Could be that. Could very well be that. I'll keep that in mind. So if you'll be tailing him from tomorrow onwards. We can't meet? Meeting you is currently the simplest way to lose Coil's tail right now."

I smirked. "That's the only reason you want to meet me?"

She sniffed haughtily, "Why else? Be grateful."

I mock bowed, "Of course your omniscience. By the way, don't use it as an actual tactic. I've scanned the house previously, it's clean of electronic bugs, but there are cameras out in the neighbourhood. He'd need some way to keep a lazy eye on dada if nothing."

She nodded, "Yeah, I know. I can even point you to the ones he has access to. But you'll probably be using your pocket universe bullshit to move around, so you're least bothered. Honestly though, do make some time to meet poor old me?"

I chuckled, "Heh, don't worry, you can meet me any time you want."

She frowned, "What do you... You'll make me meet a body double?! No! Not a body double... a clone?! Not even a clone... aargh! Aveek! Spill!"

* * *

 _January 14, 2011, Brockton Bay, 9:16 AM_

Lisa had left last night around 1am. We had, ahem, experimented a bit more. Taylor confirmed that her Lisa's two man tail rejoined her from about four blocks away. I spent the rest of the night processing more of Panacea Sensei's teachings. Bashing construct mooks in IDs was giving me lesser and lesser XP compared to leveling requirements. We'd soon need to go out and grab us some real mooks.

I'd also been chatting with Taylor about creating bioengineered bugs, my Biology level was now sufficient to at least tell which modifications were feasible, but I'd need to process the insect scans thoroughly to level it up to a place where I could make any. Maybe we could ask Amy for help, a decision to be made after we see her reaction to Swarm.

I was currently at home in my Aveek body, chatting with dada over some tea, while also camping inside an ID near the gates of the PRT HQ parking entrance in my Maker body. I was watching the entrance from a miniscule hole camouflaged near an overhead light fixture. I'd broken a ceiling in the ID to carve out a comfortable perch.

Calvert should be coming in soon. I still had a tough time believing that guy was Coil. In hindsight you could probably see it as clear as day if you filtered through his more obscure assets and holdings. Not that it was something simple, it took a genius of Dada's level to dig into Fortress' books to find him. I'd have to agree that his civilian cover was one of the best ones possible. Not a PRT employee who'd have to be bound by their overwatch, but a consultant with a high level clearance who was also a pretty successful investor otherwise. Absolutely brilliant.

And there he was, driving in by himself. My dossier already had his car on record. He came in and parked about 10 metres away from my peephole. Then he came out. I immediately shot off an observe.

What the actual fuck?

 **Two Headed Snake  
** **Thomas Calvert / Coil  
** **Lvl. ? ? Evil Mastermind**

The observe results were half baked, just his base stats (no higher than an average, fit, smart person), no description, power only said _Corcognition_ \- no definition, status effects were _Paranoia_ and _Sociopathy_ , No further details.

How high was his level that the observe got botched? The two question marks suggested less than 100, the highest I'd seen yet was Miss Militia's, which was below 50 levels above mine. That must be the limit, according to RPG rules, above which they supposedly went beyond my pay grade.

But honestly, what is this corcognition thing that puts his threat level above Lvl. 69 (as mine was 19) and why exactly was it so dangerous despite absolutely average stats? I couldn't even trust those stats though, could be possible that his stat boosts were not being shown. His title, class and statuses rang enough alarm bells though. I could definitely believe someone whose job class was Evil mastermind being deadly enough just through correct leverage alone. As far as I knew that my power did negate his, so was the Gamer System labelling his threat purely based on his information warfare capacity? Then Lisa would have a much higher level. Or was it because he had a whole organization of trained mercs and parahumans at his beck and call? Dammit! Not sufficient info!

At least his identity was confirmed. Hopefully these clues would be enough for Lisa to sherlock out enough clues about his powers. Aveek/I texted her to meet later in the day. I had about two weeks before I needed to know his proper observe results. I'd need to level up enough to be within 50 levels of him by then.

Letting a spare mind continue the biology training. I started training mana constructs too as I settled down for a long wait, Calvert had already walked into the entrance, flashing his badge at the guards. I didn't want to risk opening a dimensional breach inside the PRT HQ main premises, it paid to be wary of any building which housed a tinker's lab.


	35. Snake 5-2

**Snake 5.2**

 _January 15, 2011, Brockton Bay, 7:21 PM_

It'd been more than 24 hours that I'd been tailing Calvert. Disappointingly, apart from a few coded phone calls and some anomalous emotions, he'd not done any un-Calvertlike activities. That was alright though, this was going to be a long stakeout, possibly weeks long.

Taylor and Aveek/I were sitting and chatting in our living room. She was showing me different looks for her Swarm avatar and I was critiquing them based on awesomeness and intimidation factor. She'd found a lot of mannequins in the storeroom of a clothing store a few blocks away and had picked up a lot of different body shapes by mapping them. The one she was currently partial to was a junoesque figure, much more imposing than her slender frame. I noted the difference and suggested she magnify it, push the height to around 7 feet and make everything else proportionally massive.

We were waiting for Lisa who arrived shortly. After Taylor confirmed that the tailing van had passed by and was moving away, Lisa spoke:

"So you guys met Grue's sister."

"Huh?" I didn't have context.

Taylor quirked an eyebrow, "Aisha?" Oh, I see.

Lisa nodded, then turned to me with a mock pout, "How come she got to see the Maker costume before me?"

I chuckled, "Because it's not your time to be rescued yet."

She huffed, "Fine, I better get to see it when it's my turn to play the damsel. By the way, you've managed to both impress and scare Aisha, she knows about the Undersiders, but hasn't yet tried to join up. Anyway, you ready to go?"

Taylor interjected, "Good for her. Now before you lovebirds leave for your date, Lisa, give me some input on my cape persona?" The huge bug clone assembled in front of her, Taylor had peppered it with blue ghost fireflies, making it look ethereal.

Lisa gaped and took a step back, "Whoa! Damn girl! That's ridiculously awesome and scary!" Taylor looked very smug.

Lisa gave it a once over and continued, "Why don't you add some more eyes to keep up with the bug theme? And add a cape, and do the eyes and cape in a different colour, and oh, a dress of..." Well, I did understand very well when a conversation went above my pay grade. I gracefully butted out.

By the time they were finished, the Swarm avatar had taken another level in badass, I observed it:

* * *

 **Queen of Escalation**

 **Swarm**

 **Lvl. 32 Parahuman Projection**

 **STR - 2**

 **VIT - 73**

 **DEX - 27**

 **INT - 59**

 **WIS - 22**

 **CHA - 23**

* * *

Wow, that was something. Anyway, there were shadier matters afoot, I turned to Lisa, "You guys are so awesome. Alright! Lisa, for my next trick, I implore you close your eyes and turn on your power full blast."

Lisa nodded, took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Hit me."

I rattled off the key pieces of the puzzle, "Thomas Calvert, Coil, Two Headed Snake, Evil Mastermind, physically baseline human, power is called Corcognition, Paranoid Sociopath, Percieved Threat Level extremely high."

Lisa kept nodding for a while even after I was done. Then she took another shuddering breath and opened her eyes, "That bastard." She was radiating contempt, disgust and realization.

Taylor made a go ahead motion, Lisa continued, "Power lets him experience exactly two timelines of existence, in which different things can happen based on the choices he makes. When he closes one timeline, the events in it never happened, but he has the memory and information gleaned through it. The core of his power is still a precog, but he doesn't know it. Because he experiences things as they happen. He can take any ridiculous risk, and if it backfires he can just close the timeline and it never happened. He uses this to feed his sociopathic urges, to the extent of torturing and killing people just to get information, or even quell his emotions."

She took another deep breath, I was going to ask something but as usual she pre-empted me, "More than 90% confidence in that assessment. However, if you have means to verify before we strike, go for it. Much lower confidence in how exactly it interacts with your power. Also, possibly only one of his timelines is real, the other precog simulated. The threat level thing I believe is mostly due to the huge number of contingencies and deadman switches he's got set up - low confidence on these, best to verify."

I nodded, "I'll make sure I verify as many of these as possible by the time you make the Casino hit. Anything else?"

She shook her head, "Nothing else for now. This clears up a lot of things, but even demystified, his power makes him one slippery asshole. Barring Maker's power interactions, he can and will weasel away from any possible threat and then order a hit from a distance."

Taylor shrugged, "I can think of a few ways to blindside him."

I interjected, "You possibly can, do keep thinking, but we make concrete plans only once we have confirmations on most of these factoids. And the contingencies and deadman switches would need to be found out and dealt with too."

Taylor reluctantly agreed on that, I could tell she was itching for some action. Well, so was I, and I had plans to scratch said itch.

 _January 16, 2011, Brockton Bay, 1:02 AM_

The date had gone well, I'd borrowed dada's bike. The bugged car was too restricting to talk freely. We still had a tail throughout, but less intrusive than the first time.

Once I'd dropped Lisa off, I'd gone home, and played chess with Taylor - my chessmen were mana constructs and hers were made of bugs. Once Maker/I had confirmed that Calvert had gone to bed for the night, I swapped primaries and avatars with the spying body, Taylor equipped her costume, and we were ready for our first night to get some real XP.

We couldn't use an ID to move out, because one was still active for the spying body (it didn't cost to maintain, just create and collapse). So I just unequipped the glowy construct parts of my armor, we went out of the backdoor once Taylor confirmed there were no eyes on us. We parkoured, sticking mostly to rooftops till we were a good few kilometres from home and at the starting point of our patrol route.

Given Taylor's already massive range, we'd devised a grid pattern which swept her range over most of the unclaimed zones in the docks area, and did a double layer coverage of the known gang hotspots - information gained from dada.

The first thing we encountered was a domestic violence scenario, a man was beating up a barely teen girl, possibly his daughter - in a house in the unclaimed zone. Taylor bugged the man with bees and wasps till he took cover in a different room while herding the girl with butterflies and moths to go out of the house and wait at the gate. All of these while calling the police.

I'd already gleaned enough information from scanning my glasses and phone, combined with my tech and programming skills, to be able to make mostly untraceable calls by hacking a burner phone's firmware. We'd both equipped ourselves with hacked burners and had spares in our inventories. She'd also modified an open source app which masked our voices, hers sounding buzzy and mine sounding deeper and hollower over the phone, it was good work. We waited till Taylor confirmed that the police were on their way and moved on. Just out of that we got the same XP that we'd get subduing 3 high level construct-mooks.

The next one was in one of the gang hotspots, Empire controlled area to be precise. 5 Empire thugs had rounded up on two black guys and just started beating them up. They were about 800 metres away, I took it up, went full boost and arrived in about 15 seconds. I'd lately gotten the hang of boosting part of the contact surface while running/parkouring, or else boosted runs left a nasty trail of broken concrete and twisted metal.

We'd already discussed the response to these incidents, no nice taser takedowns for them. I sent off the police call while running. The moment I was in line of sight I shot off observes, the victims were brothers, recently moved in, they didn't really know this was an Empire hotspot. And the thugs were just mid level goons with knives, only one had a gun.

Oh well, I arrived at the scene, the next 5 seconds went like clockwork - disarm thug, scan thug, break his legs (clean breaks of the tibia, would heal with moderate medical care but they'll not be walking before a few months at least), disarm the next one, scan, break his legs, disengage thug from victim, scan, break, disarm, scan, break, disengage, scan, break.

I produced zipties from the inventory, lined up the thugs with sitting their backs to the wall and tied them up. I kicked the dropped weapons into a rough pile, then turned to the victims - Noah and Jordan Smith, decent guys.

"Do note that this is an Empire hotspot. Please avoid walking through this area in the near future."

They were still in shock, gaping at what just happened, Noah got his composure back first, "We... We didn't know. We're new here. Y-You're from the protectorate?"

I nodded, "No, I'm Maker, independent tinker. You guys seem a bit beaten up, I have some tech that can heal it. Would you like me to?"

The younger brother, Jordan, blankly nodded, "yeah, okay, if you can."

I extruded a gadgety looking construct from my palm, "touch this, please", he did. I hit him with _Scan_ , _Heal_ , _Cleanse_ , and _Refresh_ in that order. Heal had gotten a lot of levelups with my recent study of the session with the Dallons, he was healed up fully, even a nascent tumour was healed. He was left gaping for a few seconds again, "Whoaaaa! I feel like I've just woken up and had a strong espresso shot! Thanks man!"

I nodded, the older brother held out his hand too. I applied the same set of skills on him, he also had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, blue collar job I presumed. I let him know, "You'd want to check your computer usage posture, had an aching wrist lately?" He nodded again, "This does feel great, yes, and the wrist pain is gone, how'd you know?"

His brother interrupted, "Healing tech man, of course he'll know what's wrong with you."

I nodded again, Taylor had already messaged me, a BPPD patrol car had just veered towards us a few blocks away. The thugs were too delirious with pain to do anything other than moan. I asked them to wait for the police who're on their way. Then jumped to a nearby roof and left.


	36. Snake 5-3

**Snake 5.3**

 _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 12:21 AM_

Taylor's Administration Sensing/Control finally had another upgrade, they were slowing down as the levels were rising. She could sense and control sounds from her thralls, this was big. She could basically hear throughout her range, and her swarm clone could speak in a manner that was only a thousand times creepier than her buzzy phone voice.

We'd also spent some time levelling up _Pharmacology_ and trying different combinations of tranquilizers and paralytics that could be delivered by her wasps. We tried coating/dipping the stingers in certain chemicals, didn't work too well. Fleshcrafting their venom glands to contain (not secrete, biology skill still wasn't that good) those chemicals worked somewhat, it still delivered a miniscule dosage, but then that meant she could measure out her dosage properly.

A number of paralytics, anaesthetics and their derivatives were tried, we studied the effects on mooks in IDs (I still stopped spying whenever Calvert would go into the PRT building). Sadly these special tranq bugs lost their payload after one sting, we still made a few hundred of them and stored them in our inventories. We'd probably get better options if Amy agreed to help us.

For regular takedowns, we discovered that simple pain bugs worked the best. Taylor had found some Tarantula Hawk Wasps, no Bullet Ants yet.

Calvert was still keeping up with his goody two-shoes routine, but I'd already had the chance to confirm one thing, I'd taken a scan of him while he was sleeping. Studying that, he had a superposed/entangled brain in the same mechanism as Taylor's multitasking, but while Taylor had thousands, he had exactly two superpositions. That led much credence to the twin timeline theory.

That night, Taylor had decided to use her swarm avatar for the first time. We were running on rooftops, almost at the end of our patrol route. We'd made sure to keep the visibility of Swarm and maker sufficiently non-correlated and random. Till date her takedowns mostly had been to incapacitate the perps with pain bugs and keeping a swarm around them which actively discouraged running away - which dispersed once the police were nearby. She often used firefly alphabets to communicate with the victims before she got the audio upgrade.

Taylor stopped moving , "Lone female, being followed by three goons." She sent me a location, only a street away. I boosted and jumped to a nearby rooftop when she messaged me that she was taking it. That was an ABB heavy area adjacent to Empire territory. And as expected, the lady was white, quite provocatively dressed, while the goons following her were Asians.

I did my usual observe pass. Huh, guess what? The woman was an Empire plant, probably hoping to stir up trouble so that E88 could start a bid to take over this area. She apparently trusted the Empire a lot. I relayed the message to Taylor. She confirmed that there were another 4 guys hanging about two streets over. She asked me to confirm, I boosted and flew to her marked location, keeping low and out of sight. I spotted the guys, yep, E88 gangers, focused on a phone. These guys were ready to put a match to this powder-keg of a location. I let Taylor know and also added that it was her show now, as my considerable leg-breaking skills were not the right solution for this one.

She sent me a message, _'Time to nip this in the bud. I'm going to give these guys a piece of my mind.'_ and also sent a live feed of her mental mini-map focused on the woman baiting the ABB. I sat back to watch the show.

The 3 ABB goons were trying their best to surreptitiously flank and surround the bait woman, who was doing her best to pretend to be oblivious. The goons started drawing closer, the woman was clutching her phone inside her pocket nervously. The moment one of the thugs grabbed her shoulder, the fun started.

A number of things happened simultaneously, the woman pretended to startle while pressing a button on her phone. The pretense turned real in a moment as a Swarm Avatar assembled in front of them, while simultaneously assembling in front of the E88 gangers too - whose phone had just started to ring.

The reactions were brilliant:

E88 mook #1 was the first to notice, he gaped and pointed.

E88 mook #2 and #3 looked at the still forming, glowy, blue and green, eight-eyed, swirling, floating, bug-apparition that was the Swarm Avatar, they promptly took off running, screaming their heads off.

E88 mook #4 was too busy checking the phone, he only noticed when he heard the screams. E88 mook #1 had begun moving in the direction #2 and #3, he was elegantly backpedalling though instead of breaking into an outright run, he was also muttering 'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!' rapidly instead of screaming, very classy.

By the time E88 mook #4 did notice, the Swarm avatar had raised her hand in an accusatory manner at him, her 8 eyes arranged in a clearly angry glare, while fireflies of her cape and hair were moving in a flame like aura (I'd shown Taylor clips of Super Saiyans and Aleph Disney's Hades' hair to explain the effect to her. She'd made it work with fireflies pretty accurately). Mook #4 wanted to backpedal, but stumbled and fell on his arse. He opened his mouth to say something, but Swarm interrupted him in her buzzy creepy voice, "You! Never try this again." The mook started trying to shake his head and nod simultaneously, then yelped as if stung by a bee, because he was, I guessed.

By now, mooks #1, #2 and #3 had all fallen down and rolling on the ground, still screaming, but this time presumably due to being stung. Taylor was using common harmless wasps, she was being nice.

Meanwhile, two roads away, the ABB guys' reaction to their Swarm Avatar was far more unanimous, ABB Mook #1 was a native English speaker, he just gave the forming mass of bugs one look, said "OhShiiii..." and ran, the other two joined him, shouting "他媽的! 跑!跑!" and "妖怪!" respectively. While the bait lady just kept shrieking at an unholy pitch.

Taylor repeated her finger pointing glare and speech for the bait woman when she paused her shriek to take a breath. She gave the mooks and the woman a few cursory wasp stings and just let them all run away afterwards. I got a somewhat disappointed _'Let's go'_ message with a mental sigh from Taylor, she probably had more to say to them. I messaged her back, _'Yeah, you might want to turn down the intimidation a notch or twenty if you wanted to give a longer speech...'_ I didn't mention that if I were in their place, I'd probably have shat my pants just watching that display.

* * *

 _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 2:54 PM_

Calvert still hadn't put on his costume or visited his lair yet. He sure was one paranoid SOB. He had a changing password that he called his lieutenant/s with twice daily, I was sure it was some kind of failsafe. I was also sure if I gave Lisa the 9 passwords I'd collected, she'd figure out the pattern and intervals in a jiffy. Other than that there were also two generic anonymous portals where he'd go and input a code, every day for one and the other one I figured once a week - more failsafes and deadman switches. They were shady, heavily rerouted and nigh unhackable, but none of these were yet directly linked to his villain id.

I had checked his home PC earlier only to find nothing incriminating, I suspected his setup was either in his base or, more probably, online - I was proven right. That afternoon was the first I caught him logging on to his Coil accounts from his home PC. His whole setup was in the cloud, tinkertech secure server. Well, if I had one, I certainly couldn't blame him for having one.

His authentication into the server was a 3 step process, a hardware dongle plugged into whichever machine he was accessing the server from, a regular password, and a one-time security code that he got as a text in his cellphone. I'd already scanned his cellphone. I'd scan the dongle later that night. The password Lisa had already told me. But my mana construct resolution was still at around 100nm, I'd need to grind it more before I could duplicate the dongle.

I kept spying on him, trying to glean whatever I could from his screen. He was planning on going to Boston for a couple of days, his excuse was a meeting with the Boston PRT director for some consulting. I found out from his villain account screen that he'd set up a meeting with Accord, another cape I somewhat respected (sans his legendary OCD). Honestly, if Coil wasn't such a teenager kidnapping scumbag, I'd actually have liked him quite much.

Aveek/I was at the Hebert's, Danny had just driven us back from the GED testing centre. We answered the tests such that we'd get impressive, but not stupendous results, for obvious reasons. We were sitting at their living room, Taylor brought out 3 steaming cups of Chrysanthemum Tea from her inventory. I just finished explaining Coil's security protocols.

Taylor came up with the solution within moments, "well, it's not paranoia when we're really after him. Duplicate his dongle as soon as you can, meanwhile, I'll be writing a backdoor app for his phone for you to install. Duplicating it would just create a network conflict and alert him. Send me his phone's specs, firmware and antivirus details." She'd been really enthusiastic about coding apps after making the voice masking one.

I nodded, "I'll have it sent to you by tonight, let me check if I can also give a copy of his phone's flash memory to you." I still hadn't tried reading or copying electronic data from scans into machines, time for some more research. "I think I would lay off patrols tonight. Research."

Taylor shrugged, "More for me. Not like I can't program while patrolling. I already have an IDE in my phone. It'd be fun, never coded a proper rootkit before. I've been experimenting with some basic hacks and viruses, it's interesting how..."

Danny interjected with a sigh, "I don't know whether to be proud of how smart my daughter is or to be worried that she's so enthusiastic about computer viruses."


	37. Snake 5-4

**Snake 5.4**

 _ _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 5:14 AM__

It took me more time to find and download the required whitepapers than to absorb them. Overall it netted me quite a few levels in _Electronics_ , _Physics_ and _Hardware_ but the levels were not my goal. I had gained enough understanding of all common memory storage systems to attempt the next level.

I dove into the scan of Coil's phone, located the memory chips, then started zooming till I could discern the individual transistors. Zooming in and out a few more times it didn't take me long to figure out which one was charged and which one wasn't. As soon as I had read the first 32 transistors, I got a subskill called _Memory Interface_. I was expecting it, after all, the AI does this every time I learn books from a memory chip. Within moments I had a copy of the whole flash memory of the phone. I went one step further, I focused on the RAM chips too, it failed the first time, then I focused again with the hardware architecture of SDRAM in mind, I had a copy of its RAM content too.

Great, I had the data, but how to send it to Taylor? If I would message the files to Taylor mentally, she wouldn't be able to open them, I tried using Memory Interface to write it to a real chip directly but construct complexity constraint would not let it work. Time to try another idea, I began downloading more whitepapers, this time on all kinds of interface ports and their handshaking and data transfer protocols, then on most of the common file formats for text, images, video, audio and so on.

While I was busy searching and downloading, Taylor came back home and happily reported that one potential rapist and two muggers were behind bars, and some armed gang members 'had wet their pants when the fear of Swarm was put into them'. Even without support from Gamer's mind, her emotional control was well enough that I really couldn't tell whether she mentioned these things so casually just to freak me out or not.

Calvert soon woke up, freshened up, logged into his Coil server and started reading reports hacked from PRT and BPPD on the cape and business scenes. He went through reports on the Boston capes called the Travelers (sent from Accord) and then spent considerable time going over the reports of Maker and Swarm, both PRT and the PD had amassed quite a few case files, cellphone and cctv clips on the both of us. What joy.

He also spent some time reading reports on Fortress and what drew my eye was him looking at a video clip of Maker and Glory Girl flying out the front door of our house, then Glory Girl flying back in. Then Aisha leaving our house, thankfully her face wasn't visible as she went the other way. Finally there was Glory Girl and Panacea leaving the house, Taylor and me seeing them off at the door. Well, oops?

Anyway, there was no need for immediate action, I knew he was monitoring us. He was already aware of my interaction with the Dallons when dada was attacked. Good thing that the camera clearly shows both Maker leaving and me at the door after that. It would have to do. Calvert read through the rest of the reports then made a call that raised my hackles.

"Tattletale."

...

"Your... friend, seems to have an unusual number of connections in the cape world."

...

"Should I be worried?"

...

"The new tinker is of particular interest. I'm sending you some data, give me your analysis no later than today afternoon."

...

"See that you do."

This could get tricky. Aveek/I immediately got a text from one of Lisa's burner numbers to meet at the boardwalk cafe in an hour. I confirmed it. I was done downloading all the whitepapers by then. I got on to absorbing them with 3 extra multitask minds running. Also messaged a quick update of the developments to Taylor.

It took me less than an hour to absorb the whitepapers and protocols. Calvert was staying home today. I figured he'd mostly keep his Coil activities in his spare timeline unless they were actionable.

I switched primaries and went on to the next experiment. I created a construct micro-USB connector and plugged it into my phone. Then pushed some mana into the construct to create and sense electrical signals in the pins, but routed the intent through the AI, pointing at the PC to phone handshaking protocols, it started drawing a steady stream of mana and I got a message from the AI that the handshake was successful. Final step - I pointed at the file transfer protocols and sent the flash memory dump file from Calvert's phone to copy to my phone. It started copying.

New skill created: _Mana-Computer Interface_... Mwahahahahahaha!

 _ _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 10:32 AM__

Armed with a VM emulating Calvert's phone, Taylor got cracking making her rootkit. Meanwhile Aveek/I was already at the cafe, sipping at a steaming chrysanthemum tea, waiting for Lisa. She arrived shortly, tail in place, we held hands and engaged in idle chitchat, she even asked me some overt questions about Maker. All the time, we were tapping away in Morse Code.

'COIL WANTS INFO ON MAKER'

'GIVE. DIMENS. FX TINKER. NO SWARM'

'PROVIDE TODAYS PATROL ROUTE? HE WILL AMBUSH'

'YES'

'OK'

We parted soon after. Calvert got a call, possibly the tail updating him on Lisa's activities. He seemed content. He also received Lisa's analysis in a few hours. She did well, giving him enough info but nothing of my real abilities. Not that she knew about the Gamer powerset to begin with.

Calvert soon began making calls, bloody bugger arranged a hit on me!

 _ _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 11:35 PM__

I'd spent the rest of the day training the Mana Computer Interface and Construct resolution, I needed to go below 15nm to be able to replicate his dongle. I had tried to read it's memory but it was not any standard filesystem at all, stupid tinkertech. It even had some nonstandard electronics in it which wouldn't make sense until I got scans of it while in operation. I also took a bit of time to prepare a personal gift for Coil.

Swarm and Maker/I were out for patrol, we knew exactly where Coil's ambush was set up. As soon as we got within 3 kilometres of the place. Taylor confirmed that they were there, three plants were waiting on a street while a whole team of his tinker-rifle mercs were spread around in nearby windows and roofs. As we advanced further she even told me of a sniper about 300 metres away from the spot.

We split our routes, I headed along the route Lisa mentioned while Swarm circled around. Her role was surveillance only for this gig. As soon as I was in visible range, Coil, sitting in his pyjamas on his bed, got a text that the target had been spotted. I prayed he didn't move from his spot, because I wouldn't be able to shift my peephole on him without switching primaries.

Within moments I got a precog scan alert. My gift came into play - a custom anonymity protocol response for his precog scan. I possibly would never know how it exactly played out in his precog timeline, but he sent an abort mission in the present timeline and the guys did nothing as I passed by.

Within a minute, Coil's social reading changed, he was suddenly radiating massive amounts of fear and worry. Good, the gift worked. He hurried off to his desktop. I had to stop at a rooftop to switch primaries and shift the peephole. He drafted two mails, one to Tattletale telling her to get more data on Maker but avoid any confrontation between Maker and The Undersiders at all costs. The second mail was to Accord, telling him that Coil was ready to have the assets transferred.

As soon as he sent that second mail, his threat level rose from **? ?** to **? ? ?** ... What the fuck? Who was this guy?! I resolved to take him down as permanently as possible as soon as I had an idea of what the assets were, and got a quest with a huge XP reward!


	38. Snake 5-5

**Snake 5.5**

 _ _January 21, 2011, Brockton Bay, 2:25 PM__

Taylor finally finished coding the rootkit last evening. It was a nifty little piece of code, it uploaded the phone's voice call log and screencaps of whenever it was being used to our server. Actually that was the only way to see his messages, the messenger apps he used were pretty secure otherwise. The rootkit ran as an invisible service and it wouldn't be found out unless someone did a deep statistical analysis of the phone's data traffic. It could also operate the phone remotely when necessary.

I had practiced installing it in our phones using Mana Computer Interface, Taylor had to tweak the code a bit to work for individual phones but it worked. I finally installed it last night on the target phone while Calvert was sleeping, also installed another simpler version in the few spare burner phones he kept.

Taylor checked the next morning when he made some calls and confirmed that it was working. That was good, I didn't want to follow him to Boston, Accord's Ambassadors had capes with very exotic powers whose interaction with mine I was entirely unsure of.

We were all sitting in our living room, Lisa and Taylor had just arrived. Dada was going to leave, we were waiting for the Dallons. Maker/I had stopped tailing Calvert because he was in the PRT HQ and with his phone bugged finding out his location was a cinch.

Taylor asked Lisa, "So how come you're so open to meeting heroes? I'd think someone of your, um, alignment..."

Lisa interrupted her, as usual. "No. Not at all, what happens behind masks stays behind masks. Besides, we haven't ever tangled with the heroes. Just because we're labeled villains doesn't mean we have anything against the whitehats."

Taylor smirked, "I see someone's ideologies have been rubbing off on you."

I facepalmed, Lisa had walked right into that one, she groaned, "Urghh! Just you wait, Little Owl! Just you wait till someone catches your fancy. I'll pay you back for all of these I swear!"

Taylor blushed, "Hmph, we'll see. So really, you just want to meet Glory Girl and Panacea?"

Lisa snickered, "Not as much as I want to see their faces when they get to see Swarm for the first time! Also, Aveek here will not show me his Maker body otherwise."

Dada, who was quietly enjoying the byplay, chose to pipe in, "It's just performance anxiety. All guys have it the first time."

Lisa gave him a stern look, then started radiating extreme smugness, "Tell you what Dev, you quit teasing us and I promise to introduce you to the Number Man."

Dada's face lit up. "Deal!" He fistpumped, "Bestest sister-in-law-to-be ever!"

"Grrblgff!" It was Lisa's turn to blush. I decided to intervene before Lisa could verbally tear dada to pieces, "Ahem, so, Lisa, I had some information about the target that I need to run by you..."

Dada promptly got up, face twisted in mock hurt. "Fine! Fine! I'm leaving, you're a terrible brother y'know?"

"Yeah, well look who's talking." I retorted. "Shoo now! Don't you have work to do?"

Dada left, grumbling about his fun being ruined. Lisa smiled and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "Good save! Now spill!"

I told her all about Coil's ambush and the mail that increased his threat level. She asked for more details of his activities going back in time. I replied with as much detail as I could, which was a lot of detail. Lisa stopped me when I was talking about the reports on capes Coil was reading, "Wait, wait, you can reproduce these reports can't you?"

I shrugged, replayed the memory, switched primaries and then reproduced the contents of the reports in a sheaf of construct paper which I turned real pushing a chunk of mana into. Lisa's eyes were bugging out, oh, that was the first time she saw me using Mana.

"Scion's shiny balls!" She whispered as she received the papers, still gaping at them. Then looked at me, "Reality manipulation?"

I grinned sheepishly, "Eventually, I hope, it's still growing in scope and scale."

She shook her head and started leafing through the papers. "Aha!" She stopped midway. "The Travelers! Accord is sending... no, Accord is foisting off the Travelers to Coil. They're a liability for him because they can't maintain his standards of perfection. The Travelers are the assets! But the threat level increased a whole order of magnitude you said?" I nodded.

She continued, "Then there's more to it. Something that they're hiding. Of course! There's a hidden member of the Travelers, more dangerous than the rest. Something about that, something about all of them. Argh!"

I put a hand on her shoulder as I noticed her SP drop, "Easy girl. You don't want a headache now."

She nodded and sighed, "There's something that they want, something specific. Whoever can provide it has their loyalty. Coil is promising them that. But I don't think he'll deliver. If we can get to them as soon as they're here, we can nip the threat in its bud. We'll need to find his hideout, no, this is Coil we're talking about, we need to find his bond-villain lair!"

I shook my head, "Been a week tailing him. He hasn't gone there yet."

Taylor turned to Lisa, "Tell me something, the guys that tail you. Where are they based from?"

Lisa slapped her forehead, "Of course! I should have thought of that earlier! Can you tail them safely?" Ah, I felt foolish too, why didn't we consider that earlier?

Taylor shrugged, "I can run circles around them from a mile away. You'll have the lair's location by tomorrow, they'll change shifts at least once by then. Calvert is leaving tonight, right?"

I nodded, "He'll be there for five days, his itinerary extended yesterday. Should be enough time to suborn his lair?"

Lisa nodded, "He'll have the first round of talks with the Travelers in Boston itself. Also keep in mind, his base would be heavily defended by both human and electronic security. But I doubt it'd be a problem for you. But don't try to break the digital security there before you've gotten access to his server."

Taylor smiled, "I've been reading up on server security, I just need the dongle." She cracked her fingers and turned to Lisa, "Help me hide my tracks once I'm in? By the way, Dallons arriving in a minute or so." Lisa gave her a thumbs up.

I checked my skill list, construct resolution was down to 15 nm, "I'll have the dongle ready by day after tomorrow latest. Anyway, we have the beginnings of a plan. I'll keep you guys posted if there's any new development. Taylor, let us know if the phone tap reveals anything juicy? Lisa, eight more days you've to keep our cover. Once you finish the casino heist and we confirm that Coil is going to leave you alone for a week or so, we upgrade you."

Both Lisa and Taylor made affirmative noises, the doorbell soon rang. Victoria wasn't in costume this time, but Panacea was. I figured because we were to visit the hospital after this.

"Panacea, Victoria, welcome again to my humble abode." I gestured as they came in. Amy smiled, Victoria snorted.

"Aveek my man! Are we going to have pakoras?" Victoria had taken quite a liking to them it seemed.

I nodded, "The pakoras begged to be made for you, your epicureness."

Amy snickered as she hugged Taylor, "Is that even a word?" Her status was looking even better than last time, the physicals had gained a few notches, INT had a major boost and her depression debuff had reduced to a mere WIS -5. That was still not negligible though.

I shrugged, "Is a word now. Guys, meet Lisa, she's... umm..." I clearly didn't think this one through.

Lisa picked up smoothly, "I'm his girlfriend, hi!" she held out a hand for Amy to shake.

Whoa, did she think this through? Or was she simply saying it to maintain cover or something? Why was she letting Amy touch her? What was that I didn't even...

Lisa's eyes met mine for a moment, she gave me an almost imperceptible smile and nod.

Heh... Heheh... Heheheheh...

I was roused from my giddy joy by a solid slap on my back as Gamer's Mind kicked in. I had to pretend to stumble a few steps before turning to look at Victoria, my backslapper. She was beaming at me, "Good taste, man. Good taste."

I shook my head as I recovered just in time to watch another interplay, as Amy shook Lisa's hand, her eye widened for a moment before she schooled herself and gave Lisa an inquisitive, measuring stare. Lisa gave her a reassuring nod and simply said, "Aveek trusts you."

I watched Amy's mood turn beatific as her depression debuff dropped by another two points right there. She nodded at Lisa and whispered "Thank you." Ah, I guess since she had been exercising her powers more proactively her fears about them must have taken a new dimension. It was nice to see the effect that show of trust had on her. And I was very sure Lisa did that deliberately.

Amy then gave me a hug and we settled down into the couches. I could tell she was brimming with both curiosity and excitement, "So, where is my protege?"

"Right here, sensei." Maker/I emerged from a blue crack in reality right in the middle of the room, carrying a tray of steaming pakoras, tea and coffee. I was in the half-mask costume, and Lisa was ogling me shamelessly, good thing only Taylor was watching her instead of looking at Maker/me.

Victoria had jumped and was hovering in mid-air in a combat stance, "Stop scaring me like that will you? Why can't you just fly in like a normal person?!"

Maker/I shrugged, I'd never get tired of the effect this had on people. Amy recovered first, "Right, before we start the tea service, I have gifts." She unclipped a tiffin-box sized container from under her robe, opened it and took out a number of white pill-size globules, then spoke with a bit of uncertainty. "This is the drug I've patented, it cures and immunizes for about three hundred major genetic, systemic, and viral diseases. Uh, if you would like to have them, that is."

Taylor was the first to pick one up and promptly put it in her mouth, "Huh, it melted before I could swallow it. Tastes nice too!"

"The taste was my idea!" Victoria piped up as the rest of us took one each and followed suit except for Maker/me. Amy nodded at me, "Yeah, Maker, scan it before you take it. I'm sure you can replicate it for whoever needs it? Also take the whitepaper from Dev if you want to learn which sequence is for what, he's been very helpful in finalizing the contract.

"It looked like Medhall was giving us the best terms, but then he pointed out how they were going to reserve rights of refusal to sell as per their discretion in the fine print. That was a deal breaker, we finally went for a joint contract with Merck and Pfizer, they'll pay much less royalty but their contract ensures fast-track testing and global distribution with low pricing within two months."

Aveek/I nodded, "Congratulations, Amy. This is big!"

We chatted a bit more about the drug and how Medhall was being an asshole while we had tea. As soon as we finished, Maker/I addressed the others, "Folks, I'm going to monopolize Panacea's time for a while now for our next lesson. I was thinking we could call Swarm and introduce her to you before we got busy." I got a round of assent.

Taylor gave the Dallons a stern look, "Girls, please don't freak out." And got mock indignation in return. Then she pretended to send a text.

Within a minute, the windows darkened as Swarm entered and took her avatar shape. Fireflies and symbol and all, we'd run with the case 53 angle and went for a proper omega, instead of Cauldron's tilted one that were posted on the conspiracy forums. It also maintained the logo theme with my spiral.

Both the sisters didn't betray any emotions other than widened eyes and raised brows. Victoria's aura bracelet pulsed only mildly once but she controlled that too. Cool, so I won in the surprise section. Swarm then 'spoke' in her super creepy bug voice, "Hello, I'm Swarm."

After a good 12 seconds, Victoria spoke, "You... You're made of bugs." Okay, so I didn't win.

Amy elbowed her, "Vicky! Behave!" Then she turned to Swarm, "Hello, Swarm. Nice to meet you. Would you, uh, like to sit with us?" Yep, she didn't think that through either.

Nevertheless, Swarm managed to sit, or at least it looked like she was sitting. Vicky started peppering her with ridiculous questions, like "Can you see from the back of your head?" All of which Swarm gamely tried to answer.

Lisa and Aveek/I excused ourselves to my room upstairs for none of your business. Actually it turned out that she just wanted to give me a big infodump on how Amy was the daughter of Marquis and the rest of the story of the two sisters, quite a bit of which I already knew from their observe descriptions. And she also wanted to tell me how awesome the Maker body looked. The rest of our, ahem, discussion was very much none of your business.

Maker/I called Amy over, took a fresh scan of her, and started on to the next lesson. She made me produce clones of different people, created different diseases and injuries on them which I fixed while she watched and critiqued. Finally we started with the clone of her, where she, again, went wild.

Soon after I'd called Amy over, Vicky excitedly told us that Swarm had spotted some minor crimes in progress nearby, and they were going out patrolling. Swarm dispersed as Victoria quickly went into the washroom with her sidebag and came out as Glory Girl who promptly flew out the window, where Taylor messaged me that there was an arrow above the roof for her to follow. Taylor then left too, telling us that she had some errands to run.

Amy's next set of changes were really awesome. Pouches in her arms to store concentrated bio-sludge, with small tubes leading to the palm with muscles through which she could shoot them as a fine tentacle/thread with a spike at the end. Basically extended her range by tens of metres easily and could pierce through clothing and sink into skin so the whole ensemble appeared to her as a single organism affected by her power.

She turned her muscles even more dense with exotic crystalline looking structures. She added completely new receptors in her eyes, reinforced the bones and skin with more exotic hydrocarbon meshes. And added a few more minor cosmetic tweaks to her appearance. Tiny alterations which made her mousy appearance look more elfin, much like charisma does to a gamer.

I realized that as long as it was inside a living body, her power allowed a very wide range of things to be considered organic. At my insistence she also showed me how to switch a corona off. I noted the finer details of what she was doing, if you changed the part of the corona which served as the anchor for the dimensional breach - it would destabilize and close; restore that part and it would open again. I had no idea one could do that. That would come in handy, I was sure.

She added more redundancy to her vital organs. Improved her digestive system to be able to draw out much more energy from all kinds of stuff. She added some new organs, glands and a lot more neural linkages which would provide a basic regeneration factor and further enhanced senses and controls and diagnostics for said enhancements.

She even added a pseudo brain near her womb that would come into play if her main brain was sufficiently damaged, to contain said damage and sustain life functions till some other healer could reach her or given enough time her own regen could fix. Wow, no wonder she's afraid of her power. She created something like the gamer's beginner physical package for herself and somewhat mitigated her own manton limit! What I personally enjoyed was the fact that with high levels in Biology, I could actually somewhat understand all that she was doing!

When it was time to apply the changes, I first made her unconscious to avoid the memory backslide. Then took a fresh scan, merged the brain parts (still took me a good half an hour with 4 parallels running) and applied them to her. Then I woke her up.

She didn't move for a good few minutes, running the diagnostics I presumed. Then she opened her eyes, they were almost pitch black! "So beautiful!" Of course, multi-spectral eyes. The eyes soon turned normal. She got up very carefully, then asked me to nick her skin, I had to apply some force with a diamond razor to do it. There was almost no bleeding and it healed in about two minutes.

I checked her stats again, compared to her baseline the difference was unbelievable, WIS +2, CHA +6, INT +7, DEX +29, STR +24, VIT +43! That was easily a brute 3, mover 2, thinker 1, blaster 1 upgrade. Well, as soon as I had a good understanding on what she did, I was going to apply this whole package to all of us, except for the hand tentacles bit, those were specialized for her power.

It took her about an hour more for her to experiment and get comfortable with the body, Lisa and Aveek/I had come down from my room and were ooh-ing and aah-ing at her practise movements and changing pupils. She actually could move faster than an unboosted me right now. It was time to go to the hospital now.

Amy asked Maker/me, "Did you fill up the forms I sent you?" I nodded and pulled out the sheaf of filled forms as if from a slot behind my armour, actually I just created them from memory. She nodded and continued, "Perfect, I've already filed the rest of the paperwork for you at the hospital. We go and submit these and you're good to start healing today. Also, Maker, take my advice, don't go overboard with healing people, you can't save everybody. I know I sound like a hypocrite but it's a hard learned lesson."

Maker/I nodded solemnly while Aveek/I snorted and got a playful swat from Amy which sent me tumbling over the couch. Amy just deadpanned "Oops" before asking Maker/me to heal Aveek/me. Maker/I made a show of complying as Aveek/I still couldn't stop laughing while pretending to groan simultaneously. My life is complicated.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the reviews till date. I don't know how relevant or repetitive this chapter was, I don't even know if this advanced the plot much or not. It just wanted to be written :/


	39. Snake 5-6

**Snake 5.6**

 _ _January 21, 2011, Brockton Bay, 7:31 PM__

My introduction at Brockton General went pretty straightforward, They were expecting us. As soon as they filed the papers, they ushered us to the ER. From then it was a pretty smooth routine: get to patient, cleanse, scan, apply heal, scan again, if anything is amiss, apply fleschcrafting under Panacea's supervision. Heal was gaining levels in leaps and bounds.

The first time the routine broke was at the 19th patient, household accident victim, the woman had a concussion. The heal had fixed everything else, I turned to Panacea, "Only the concussion left. Do you want to try this?"

The accompanying doctor cleared his throat, "Ahem, Mr. Maker, Panacea is unable to affect brains."

Amy nervously blinked a few times, then sighed, "No, Dr. Simmons, that's not actually the case. I _can_ affect brains, but I refrain from it, because brains are extremely chaotic systems, no one knows how much a small change can affect the personality of the patient."

Dr. Simmons was taken aback, "I... I see. That's... Uh, sound reasoning. You should still avoid it then."

Amy shook her head, "No, I've always shied away from it because if I messed anything up, I wouldn't know how to turn it back. Maker's tech can save snapshots of the subject at the atomic level... right?" She turned to me with an inquisitive look.

Well, I didn't want the details to be out this early, but the cat was already out of the bag, I nodded, "Even deeper, actually, it scans at the quantum level." I'd actually confirmed that once, went so deep into a scan that all that remained were wave functions, and had to quickly retreat to avoid getting overwhelmed.

The doctor's eyebrow came close to touching his receding hairline. "So he will know _exactly_ what to change back if anything goes wrong?" We both nodded.

Amy rubbed her hands together, not realizing that the action would easily twist a steel tube if placed between her palms, "Alright then, let's do this."

It took her seconds, I was scanning the process, relieving excess blood pressure, repairing a few thousand damaged neurons, leaving out a few hundred that had actually died. The patient woke up immediately, "Uh, wow, I feel amazing... and... Whaaaa! Demon! I haven't sinned! I've been a good person!" She was making warding signs at me. It took us a while to convince her that the blue demon was indeed a healer cape. Well, her husband was called from the waiting room to confirm over a short conversation that no, her personality didn't show any noticeable deviation from normal, that was just how she was.

The second time we broke the routine was more interesting, it was one of the gangers I'd disabled on one of my days out. An E88 member who was a serial rapist. I paused as we approached him, "Why is this man here?" I injected a bit of annoyance in my tone. The man in question was radiating nervousness and hostility but was still mostly smug. He didn't talk, probably been coached to keep mum.

Panacea gave me an inquisitive stare as she received his file from a nurse, she leafed through it as Dr. Simmons and I read over her shoulder. Apparently he had an in with some Empire bigwigs and had turned his jail-time to hospital time citing his injuries. Both of them grew visibly angry as they read through the attached police report. Dr. Simmons spoke to the nurse in clipped tones, "Nurse Brady, please fetch Dr. Tanner immediately, he should be finished with his policy board meeting by now." The nurse scurried off.

Dr. Simmons turned to me and said amiably in loud enough tones for the criminal to hear, "These are some very well done fractures, Mr. Maker, I couldn't do any better even with precision tools."

I flashed him a proud grin through my half mask, "You flatter me doctor." I liked this fellow, he had 19 base INT, and he just made his stance abundantly clear.

He smiled, "No, seriously, even with our best care it would take at least 12 weeks before the casts can come off, and he'll not be running before at least 6 more months of therapy. That was the intention, I presume?"

I nodded again. Panacea had caught on by now, she picked up the conversation, "Dr. Simmons, I was reading some recent papers, they're trying to pinpoint the nerves which cause impotence. I wonder if I could help them."

The ganger's demeanour had gone from outraged to confused by now, Dr. Simmons tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I wonder, if you could try shutting down someone's erectile functions, Maker here can tell us exactly which nerve clusters were responsible."

The man was still confused, bloody dumbass, I had to clarify things further, "That's right, and this rapist here is the perfect choice for such an experiment. Too bad he'd never be able to get it up after that. But I dare say the community will be all the better off for it."

Bingo! From confusion to surprise to terror, the man sat bolt upright and blurted out, "You can't do that! I, I ain't convicted yet. I'll sue you!"

Dr. Simmons let out a chuckle, "You, a nazi criminal, will sue Panacea, the premiere healer, well known for her nobility and selflessness?"

By now another doctor was angrily rushing towards us, perhaps the most 'doctorly' looking person I'd ever seen, this was James Tanner, I Observed him. Ew, ew, this guy was nasty, E88 sympathizer, and a plant from Medhall here. Okay, this one had to be dealt with.

Tanner approached me with a furious expression, "You! You should be sued for excessive force. Do you know how many cases of broken legs our EMTs have had to deal with? What are you doing here?" Then he turned to the others, and possibly noticed Panacea for the first time. "What is he doing here, Dr. Simmons? And Panacea, you should be doing your rounds at the ER, they need your help, no need to dally here, this one is a minor case."

Dr. Simmons again cleared his throat, "Ahem... Dr. Tanner, what is this man doing here?"

Tanner retorted with full bluster, "This parahuman is one of the most violent vigilantes I've ever heard of, Bert here may be a criminal, that would be decided by the court, but who gave him the right to break both his legs like that? He might never be able to walk if it heals wrongly! I had to take him out of police custody just to keep an eye on his condition!"

Amy snapped, "Have you seen his file?"

Tanner looked at her with no less annoyance, "The junior doctors keep me appraised..."

Simmons interrupted, his measured tone dripping menace, "Have. You. Seen. The. File?" I really liked this guy.

Now Tanner looked spooked, "No, I haven't had the time to... Let me..." He snatched the file from Amy's outstretched hands and started leafing through it.

Amy was not done yet, "Maker here, apart from being a very competent hero, is also an excellent healer. In quite a few cases a better healer than me. Be very careful what you say next Dr. Tanner. My mother takes particular offense on attacks at an individual's reputation." Aww, Amy, you're too nice!

Tanner's bluster lost all steam, Bert, the rapist, was cowering on the bed, oozing dread. The day just keeps getting better. I was just standing quietly and watching the show, I began projecting random pages of information in front of me, as if busy reading something.

Tanner finally finished perusing the file, "well, I see there aren't much chances of further complications, but still, any healing injury should be kept under observation... Uh, if we have to send him back, Panacea, do you mind healing him?"

Amy's sneer was textbook, "If I touch him, it'd only be to make him genderless." Bert, the rapist, quickly covered the area in question with his hands.

Tanner's furious bluster returned, "Now see here Panacea, you're a medical professional. Such threats can be very..."

"James Tanner, MD, PhD, endocrinologist." I interrupted, still pretending to read from projected pages in front of me, then turned intimidation full on. "Twelve years practicing. Empire 88 sympathizer. Almost all known patients are white. Oh, and being bribed by Medhall to affect drug policy at Brockton general." I didn't know that one for sure, but it was a safe bet. "Funny things a bit of research brings out, isn't it, Dr. Tanner?"

The change in his emotions was delicious to watch; hostility to surprise, to apprehension, to panic... Beautiful. He took two steps back, "That... That's ab-absolute rubbish! Baseless allegations..." The others were gaping at me and Tanner alternatively.

Amy recovered first, she stepped ahead and caught Tanner's wrist, "I'm monitoring your vitals, _Mister_ Tanner. You were saying?"

He tried to jerk his hand away, but winced Panacea didn't move an inch. "Let me go! This is assault!"

Dr. Simmons sighed and shook his head, "Shame, Tanner, shame. Maker, can you provide evidence?"

I shrugged, "I'll have a dossier sent to you by tomorrow." Lisa wouldn't mind the extra-curricular exercise.

Amy's tone was imperious, "James Tanner, I'm placing you in citizen's arrest, on suspicion of malpractice. Nurse Brady, please call for security. And you, Bert, if I hear you aren't back in your cell by tomorrow... I swear I'll rot your crotch off!"

* * *

 _ _January 23, 2011, Brockton Bay, 9:24 PM__

It had taken me two days of nonstop training to bring construct resolution down to 8nm at lvl.46, the dongle was apparently _very_ high-tech. Coil was currently going to meet Accord, safe to say he wouldn't use his spare timeline to be logged on to his server. Regardless, I had placed Lisa in a communications blackout since morning, since she was the only one without an anonymity protocol.

We were in an unused warehouse at the edge of the docks near the Boardwalk, I'd already asked dada to rent it out for us, it'd take a few days for the formalities, but for now, no one was stopping us from using the place. I'd gone out last night to some tech shops and scanned their best models of laptops, cameras, phones and various other lovely pieces of tech while Swarm blacked out the cctv cameras. If I could replicate the dongle, replicating them, and my phone, was a cinch.

We waited a while to see if any of us received any precog pings just in case, and one did come, the bloody bugger was logged in from his other timeline! Our anonymity protocols would protect us from broadcasting our intentions to his precog, so he won't see us logging in from his other timeline. Taylor plugged her dongle in a brand new Dragon-tech top of the line laptop, replicated from scan. The net connection came from 8 copies of my phone, with it's wireless network piggybacking and random IMEI spoofing thing, it was very anonymous, and 8 of them gave a respectably high combined bandwidth. I messaged her with the server address and the list of passwords and security answers. Two minutes later, she beamed at me, "I'm in."

I texted Lisa to come to my home, it was about 3 kilometres from the warehouse. Taylor began to create a new super-admin account that would be invisible to Coil's login. She told me Lisa had arrived after about 5 minutes, damn that girl was hard to fool, anyway, not that we wanted to hide what we were doing from her, just when we did it, so even if Coil's precog hit her it would have no knowledge of what was going to happen. I dropped into an ID, flew home, dropped out, grabbed Lisa, dropped back in and flew back to the warehouse. Lisa and Taylor got to work subverting Coil's network.

* * *

 _ _January 25, 2011, Brockton Bay, 2:14 PM__

Swarm's recon of Coil's Lair (yes, Lair, with a capital fucking L) was complete, the main layer of security was tied to the server, so it was already in our control, but there were two more closed circuit layers. One covering all the entrances and exits and one specifically inside Coil's office, which had a backup server running in a separate adjacent room.

Thankfully there was no surveillance gear that would catch my dimensional holes. This time of the afternoon was apparently when the personnel activity was the lightest. It was quite the military base otherwise. I went in through an ID, reached the closed circuit servers, and connected a copy of my phone to each, reconfigured to serve as remote access and override hardpoints. Lisa had helped with the login credentials.

After that I did a peep-hole-tour of the place, it was quite big, and mostly underground, there were still about 25 mercs active throughout the complex, and a construction crew was finishing up touches on a huge vault at the lowest level, the loading bay also had a huge door leading to this floor, were they planning to capture an endbringer or what?

* * *

 _ _January 27, 2011, Brockton Bay, 4:18 PM__

Last evening Panacea and I had another very productive hospital session. Thankfully no more heinous Empire plants were uncovered; oh yeah, Lisa told me about the connection between Medhall and E88, good thing Amy didn't sign their contract. Then again, dada must have known, he would have pointed out something wrong with their contract anyway.

Today we were all at high alert, Lisa was at the Undersiders' loft, putting in finishing touches to her casino hit tomorrow, I swear some of my paranoia had indeed rubbed off on her. Swarm was sitting at a park bench with a laptop about a kilometer away from Coil's Lair. I was already in, watching through a hole in an ID. Calvert had returned last night. I'd gotten a fresh scan of him and had spied on him just to ensure everything was nominal, it was.

Calvert had ridden a car out to a busy part of downtown, gone into a nondescript building. Out the other side had come Coil - first time seeing the two headed snake, his costume reeked of menace and creepiness, but lacked any oomph... Meh. He was heading over to the hideout. His assets were on the way. We'd taken our time to put rootkits into all of the mercs' phones. Taylor was monitoring all of their communications simultaneously, through their phones and bugs near them too - that monster.

Coil arrived first and went into his office. He sat down on his terminal there, then logged in to both the online server and the local one, Taylor was monitoring those too.

Soon a car and an armoured container truck arrived inside the complex, Taylor was mentally giving me a minimap of all of that too. Really, that girl...

Coil was told the same by one of his minions. He walked out into a balcony overlooking the inner entrance hall. "Welcome, my friends. Hope your journey was pleasant." His voice was well carried by the acoustics of the hall, the arrivals looked up at him as they walked in.

I looked at them, there were two mismatched members. I already had files on their appearance, but my focus was more on the tags above their heads.

 **(Nuclear Ballerina)**  
 **Marissa Newland / Sundancer  
Lvl. ? ? ? Aleph Parahuman**

 **(Monster Dreamer)**  
 **Jess Tildon / Genesis  
Lvl. 8 Aleph Parahuman**

 **(Straight Shooter)**  
 **Luke Casseus / Ballistic  
Lvl. 67 Aleph Parahuman**

 **(Pretty Boy)**  
 **Oliver Siddell  
Lvl. 13 Aleph Parahuman**

Well, this wasn't matching up, okay fine so genesis was a projection cape, but what about Trickster? Who was this Oliver guy? Sundancer was the one who pushed Coil's threat level up? Aleph parahuman? Were there two versions of the Travellers? Something was amiss...

My musing was stopped short as Ballistic spoke up, "Yes, no trouble, thanks. By the way, what about the other two?"

Coil nodded, "They should be settling in as we speak, down in the special enclosure I've provided for Miss Meinhardt. Would you like to visit them?"

Special Enclosure? Meinhardt? What the?... I was interrupted again by a message from Taylor, _'At the vault. Check it out carefully, I can't get a detailed reading from the big one. The bugs keep dying'_

I closed the hole, raced down to the vault and opened another hole from a darkish corner. There was Trickster standing outside the vault door, which wasn't closed yet, and inside was a giant mass of chimeric flesh topped by a female torso...

 **The Old Switcheroo**  
 **Francis Krouse / Trickster  
Lvl. 26 Simurgh Victim**

 **?**  
 **Noelle Meinhardt  
Lvl. ? ? ? ?**

Well, shit.


	40. Snake 5-7

**Snake 5.7**

 _January 27, 2011, Brockton Bay, 4:21 PM_

This was bad, this was very bad. A Simurgh bomb and a true monster cape whole capabilities I had no idea of. Couldn't say which one was worse. I closed the hole and shifted to a corner of the vault. Noelle, the chimera girl, was crawling into the vault in a lumbering, awkward, but deceptively fast gait on the multiple limbs and tentacles that came out of her lower body. Trickster was standing at the door near the intercom and control panel.

They were talking to each other. Of course I eavesdropped.

"You should tip the driver, the trip was very smooth." That was Noelle, she had a deceptively meek yet chirpy appearance, if you could ignore her bottom half.

"I'm sure Coil is rewarding him handsomely. Are you sure you're not hungry?" Trickster sure had a very lah-di-lah manner of speaking, though one could tell it was a cape persona affectation.

"I just ate a whole pig a few hours ago, I'm not that far gone yet."

"Come on now babe, I didn't mean that!" And the accent had lost it's edge, "Just holler on the intercom if you need something okay, Coil mentioned he'll have supplies of meat ready."

"I know, I know. It's just... y'know..." Noelle shrugged, a few arms at the bottom shrugged too, it was grotesque, "do you think Coil will come through?"

"I think so, he sure has the infrastructure to back his claims. And this _is_ the city where the world's best healer cape is. Even the new guy Maker was apparently seen at the hospital healing with Panacea."

"Krouse, that's who you're supposed to especially keep an eye out for... I don't think you should bite the hand that feeds you." Duh, Krouse, I think that is exactly what you should do!

"Well, I'm not suggesting we do. I'm sure Coil will deliver on his promise. We'll get you healed, trust me. Even if we have to go against that guy, we can try to get our hands on some of that tech..." Gah! I'd heal her for free you moron!

"I miss home." Wow, deflection much, Noelle?

"We all do, babe. We all do. Baby steps, we'll get there. Anyway, I'll go have a chat with the others. Should also report to Coil while I'm at it. You get comfy, I'll see you later." Trickster blew a kiss at Noelle and tapped the control panel, the Vault door closed and locked with a solid thud and hiss. Noelle heaved a deep sigh, a giant wolf head jutting out of her lower body mimicked the motion.

I almost felt a twinge of guilt at spying on that intimate moment, but the severity of the situation took priority, I messaged Taylor. _"I need to scan her, can you flicker the lights of the vault level exactly on my mark?"_

 _"Let me see... Yeah, give me a moment to set it up... Okay, ready."_

Noelle's bulk was pretty close to me, I opened another microscopic hole inside her body, _"Mark!"_ I sent out a mana scan, she flashed blue as the lights flickered.

Whoa! That scan cost 430MP, Mana Scan was a ridiculously cheap skill, scanning my whole house had cost me 22MP! What the...?

She jerked up and looked around, then went up to the intercom and slapped a giant hand on the button. "Uh, hello. Did the lights just flash or something?" Who was she adressing? I asked Taylor and she told me that there was a guard who'd taken position outside the vault when Trickster left.

The merc's voice came through, "Yeah, the lights did flicker, ma'am. The breakers must have tripped. No worries." Thank you oblivious merc, I'll ask Lisa to give you a bonus before firing your ass once we take over.

"Oh, okay then. Thank you." Noelle settled back down. That was a major risk I'd taken, but recent trends had taught me that unless I took some risks, the situation continued to escalate quietly. Huh, I got a WIS +1 for that thought... Right.

* * *

 _January 27, 2011, Brockton Bay, 8:04 PM_

"That's it! Madison!" Lisa slapped the table truimphantly.

Taylor whipped her head up from the screens, "What?!"

"Not that Madison you worrywart! Madison the city, but not just our Madison the city." Lisa's grin stretched from ear to ear. I'd called for a meeting the moment I was sure there was no further info to glean immediately.

Taylor shrugged and said, "Ah. I see." and went back to watching the screens. I was still keeping an eye on Coil, but he'd gone off to PRT HQ and was currently Calverting. We were sitting in our warehouse base, and Taylor had not stopped monitoring his Lair since the Travelers arrived. The camera feeds from the vault and their rooms were open in multiple screens in front of us. I was projecting the conversation between Noelle and Trickster in front of us and Lisa was lapping up all the data like a sponge.

What she said suddenly clicked, "They're Parahumans from Aleph's Madison, brought in by the Simurgh during her attack?"

Lisa shook her head, "They were baselines when they were brought in, the murder angel made them trigger somehow, the rest of them triggered fine, except for Noelle, and this guy Oliver." She pointed at the page of observe result summaries I'd printed out for her. Sundancer's were partial like Coil's, and Noelle's was a stub full of question marks.

Taylor asked without turning her head, "Oliver is a monster cape?"

Lisa shook her head again, "No, faulty triggers, both of them. Oliver's power is... incomplete, Noelle's is... an abomination? Both of their powers are biology based, and has got something to do with whoever they come in contact with. Noelle's appetite keeps increasing, and all she eats adds to her mass. Poor girl was anorexic before her trigger. Trickster is her boyfriend, the Simurgh has done something to him... I have no idea. But his obsession with her is unnatural."

I shook my head, "How can she be this dangerous? Her threat level is..."

Lisa bopped my head, "Stop worrying about threat levels you paranoid freak! This is an opportunity! All you need to do is heal Noelle, and they're out of Coil's grasp. Promise to send them back to Aleph when you can - which you will at some point of time I'm sure - and their loyalty to you is cemented. That's all they want! And the tentative plan that we have in dealing with Coil neither coincides nor interferes with this if we can do it quitely enough."

I nodded, "Fine, and I'm not being paranoid, they've been specifically warned about me. But yeah, I agree. I've gone through her scans, the upper body is human, but her brain only has the corona pollentia, the corona gemma... is... warped, it's spread through each and every lovecraftian nook of her lower body, the biology there is fucked up and unsustainable without power bullshit, mind you. The gemma is a radiating mess of ganglions from a core in her centre of mass, now that has got some weird physics! It's much more massive than it should be - but not heavier. Something to do with compacted or warped dimensions I think. I couldn't go deep into..."

Taylor interrupted me, "Nerd out later with Amy about that. Question is, can you heal her?"

I shrugged, "I can reconstruct her lower body according to her proportions and based on her DNA. That's not difficult. But I have no idea how to reconcile her corona. If I leave out the gemma, best case she's an untriggered cape, worst case she might just revert."

Lisa shrugged, "Just delete her whole corona, there's no love lost between her and her power."

I nodded, "Okay, but it'll take me quite a few hours to prepare the template. I'll do it tonight and keep it handy. Happy?"

Lisa got up and bussed my cheek, "Very happy. Now, I have to get to the loft, we're hitting the casino tomorrow at seven in the morning. After that, one final meeting with Coil, and I'm all yours..." Then she offered her hand to me and said, "Do me before you drop me?" before shooting a pointed glare at Taylor who promptly swallowed her wisecrack with a huff and went back to watching the screens.

I chuckled and took her hand, Cleanse, Scan, Refresh.

* * *

 _January 28, 2011, Brockton Bay, 5:02 PM_

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

"Aveek! Go practice in an ID or something! I'm trying to work here!" Taylor said testily, the girl needed a break, she'd been glued to those screens since yesterday. Didn't even go out patrolling with me last night, said that a single laptop screen was not optimal, and she'd also reminded me that she'd already stopped 3 and prevented 8 crimes in her 3km radius. Bloody showoff...

I stopped throwing construct shurikens and knives at the realized-construct wooden wall, I was training mana persistence, it was already up to 9 seconds before the constructs dissipated from the wall. "Fine! when will Danny get home?"

"Later, and I've told him that I might be a bit busy for the next few days."

"You're worried aren't you?"

She sighed, "A bit, yes, the situation with Noelle is precarious. Did you know a stray slap from her tentacle left an indent in the vault wall? Anyway, I'll feel slightly better once you add Lisa tonight."

I nodded, "Ditto, let me know when Coil asks her to meet. Has he come out yet?" The Ruby Dreams heist had gone perfectly smooth. They were going to move the cash on 30th, so they'd have heightened security from the 29th. Today morning at 7am their security was almost nonexistent. I wanted to watch the heist from an ID but Lisa would know and she might feel I was doubting her capability. I'd get the details from her later. She'd called once to tell me that all was good and she'd go back to her apartment from the loft around noon to get some sleep. She probably wouldn't get up till Coil called for her, which she said was a sure thing.

Taylor shook her head, "No, still at the PRT HQ"

I shrugged, then dropped into an ID and started throwing construct knives again.

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

Fwip-THUNK!

 _"Come back out, there's an anomaly."_

I quickly dismissed the ID and walked over to her, she was pointing at some screenshots of Coil's phone, "Look here, these are his message logs for today morning. There's the confirmation of the successful hit from Tattletale, which he has congratulated in reply - slimy ass. As if he doesn't know that the ABB will be out for their blood. Look at the next ones, here's him sending his daily password to the merc in his Lair's monitoring station, to which he has received an _Alpha Charlie_ as usual. But look at this next one, just two minutes after the alpha charlie, he's received a _Sierra Charlie_ , and this is from an online SMS service number... This hasn't happened before!"

I nodded, "Could be another failsafe, we'll just need to keep it in mind. Has he reacted in any way?"

She shook her head, "He's been at the HQ, but no, no texts, no calls other than a few office calls. A called confirmation from Lisa's Tail that she's reached her apartment. No activity on his server other than his early morning login to read reports."

I gave another pensive nod, "We'll proceed with caution then. Once Lisa is in tonight, then we can move on to Healing Noelle, then taking Coil down. We've neutralized all his known failsafes right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, the ones on his server, the ones on his phone, all the authorization codes and check-ins up to his weekly ones, the security systems of his Lair, we can override and take control of all of it in one fell swoop. I even have his banking details and his hooks into fortress. We still need to prepare for the transfer procedures and breakups, but with Dev and Number Man's projected assistance, I'm not much worried."

I nodded, Taylor looked back at the screens, "Hey, looks like Coil just left the HQ... Le'ts check the phone's GPS... Hmm, yep, he's probably heading to Casa Calvert, will reach in half an hour, you want to go?"

At that moment we both received a precog ping. Taylor just rolled her eyes, once we'd started surveilling him, we'd often get these pings... Possibly one whenever he split timelines. We'd gotten used to generally ignoring them unless we were actually planning something that would interact with him.

I shrugged, "In a while, I don't like to watch him change y'know."

Taylor smirked, "I'm sure Lisa would be happy to hear that. Wouldn't you rather watch..."

"Tayyloorrr!"

"...the new text that Calvert is sending?"

"Huh... Good save. Yep, let's see it."

"Yeah, here it is, _Execute Sierra Lima_. I don't know which number this one's going to. This is an anomaly I'm telling you. Wait, let me check the database... Oh, he got a reply - _Commencing_. Commencing what?... Okay - here's the number, oh, this is that other guy who tails Lisa often, the one you said is trained..."

"...as an assassin... Oh fuck." I equipped the Maker Avatar, "Taylor, grab your mobile and get changed." This, was not in my calculations. What the fuck happened?

"What? Do you think..." Taylor complied, she seemed confused. Oh, right.

"Taylor, Lisa's birth name is Sarah Livsey." I grabbed her and dropped us in an ID, then ran out in full boost through the wall of the warehouse.

 _"FUCK! DROP ME OUT. I NEED THE NETWORK!"_ Taylor screamed in a message.

Yeah, that made sense. Shit, I was panicking in all my minds, I suppressed it as much as I could. Dropped Taylor on a rooftop, dismissed the ID, recreated it and ran again, my sole focus was reaching the apartment. My running speed on full boost with flight assist was much faster than pure flight. She lived about 15km away, about 4 minutes at my top speed.

I was more than halfway to Lisa's apartment, Taylor messaged me to hurry, she'd opened the feed that Coil had from the single audio bug that Lisa had allowed him to keep. She trashed any other bug that he tried to put in her apartment. She'd also called Lisa but she was tired after the heist, she'd not be wakened so easily. Then Taylor said she heard what sounded like a scuffle.

I released the extra minds and dumped as much mana as I could into boost and flight, my mind was awhirl, what the fuck happened? Why this now? How!?

I angled myself from the rooftop opposite her bedroom window and jumped, smashing through the window and landing on the floor, I dropped out of the ID.

The assassin was standing in the middle of the room, cellphone in hand, he looked up at me with a startled expression, his hand going inside his vest.

I turned to look at the bed, Lisa was lying there, a deep purple mark around her neck, a wire ran through it, was that a garrote? Did this guy think he was Agent 47 or something? There were marks on her arms were her nails had scratched repeatedly... All of these observations ran in the background of my sole active mind, but there was only one thing that I could consciously notice.

There was no blue label above her head.

...

For the second time, Gamer's Mind was a bit too slow to react to me looking at Lisa, white hot anger, frustration, and pure rage blinded me for just a fraction of a second.

Everything was fire.

Gamer's Mind activated. I was not calm, but I was thinking clearly. My MP started counting back up from zero.

 _"Aveek? Are you OK? I just read the message from the assassin. I'm so sorry."_

Taylor's grief was palpable. Stupid emotion messages.

I realized that the assassin had shot me in the head, no worries on that. All that remained of him was a charred skeleton-y thing, part of his boots and a molten gun. As for Lisa's body, I was closer, it was just ashes, with most of the bed. The floor I was standing on had also a thick layer of carbonized concrete in a neat circle. I also realized that there was a scan saved of the whole explosion thing. Hmm, might come useful to create a skill later. There was also the matter of Lisa... Again, I neither had the fortitude or will to deal with that at the moment.

First things first.

 _"Taylor, where are you? And where is Coil?"_

 _"I haven't made it much far, I'm about halfway there. Coil isn't heading home, looks like he's headed for his Lair. The second tail called him about an explosion, he's going to check it out. Was that you?"_

 _"Yes. You're closer, get in range. The moment he enters his office. Cut him off from all comms. Then put the fear of Swarm into him. I'm on my way. We're still good on the tentative plan, but I'm going to add a twist."_

 _"Yes."_ Grim resolve blazed through that single message.

I remade my construct armor, seems like it too was cannibalized for mana. Anyway, I walked to the front door. In a few moments, there were footsteps outside, the lock turned and the second tail guy came in, the infiltrator that I first saw. I wasn't boosting, so the glow was low, he didn't notice me till he was halfway in, I scanned him, fleshcrafted him into biomass and inventoried him. All implications to be considered later.

I dropped into an ID and headed for Coil's Lair.

The trip was almost meditative, Swarm was sending me a live feed of what was happening at her end. Only one thought hovered uncertainly around the edge of my mind.

Why would she scratch herself in the arm?

* * *

A/N: To the conveniently anonymous reviewer who thinks the story uses the gamer power in convoluted ways instead of just number crunching:  
It's alright, you're not the target audience.

To all the other reviewers: Thanks for your appreciation and critique. They're always welcome.


	41. Interlude 5-Coil

**Interlude 5. Coil**

 _January 13, 2011, Brockton Bay, 12:56 AM_

Coil discarded the timeline where he had Tattletale and her date apprehended and interrogated. This was an unexpected but not entirely unwelcome development. Association with the Sensharma kid would be good for Tattletale, because Coil was starting to run out of incentives to keep her in line. He couldn't loosen her leash too much because even if her loyalty was verifiable, he knew she was dangerous and she resented him for the way he'd brought her in. Well, what needed to be done, needed to be done. He'd had her brought in firstly for her own good, the other gangs would simply have misused her. And secondly, there was no way he was going to pass on such a valuable acquisition.

He'd taken some time to personally chat over the phone with the boy before closing the timeline, he was an impressive young man, almost crippled one of his men before being caught. He was much more respectful when he learned that Coil was Tattletale's employer. He could be a valuable addition to the organization later.

The fact that he was Dev Sengupta's brother increased his value both as an asset and leverage, Dev was another extremely valuable asset. The man was ridiculously smart - in the obviated timeline where Coil had personally interviewed Dev, the financial savant had figured things out in minutes and it turned out that their ideologies were pretty well aligned. He was very proud of that new acquisition, it's not everyday that you get a call from the Number Man complimenting your hiring decisions.

Coil left instructions to his men that Tattletale would be allowed to visit the Sengupta's household anytime she wished, and that her interactions with Aveek Sensharma should only have light surveillance. This had the markings of a good start.

* * *

 _January 13, 2011, Brockton Bay, 8:23 PM_

Coil looked on with a confused frown as Tattletale lay unconscious in front of him, sure he'd questioned her a bit forcefully. That didn't mean she had to bang her head on the table to unconsciousness. This was very unlike her... Were her new relationships making her more emotionally charged?

Coil quickly closed that timeline when he noticed an almost imperceptible pause in Tattletale's speech in the other timeline - where he was chatting amiably with her. The girl was very sharp. He generally avoided facing her in both timelines, today he was just parallelly questioning her during a meeting, nothing overly harsh. He needed to be more cautious. Good thing he never brought her to his base, the girl was entirely too nosy.

He needed more leverage over her and the Undersiders, well, there was a plan to sow a bit of chaos in the Bay's gangs and make Emily look bad. It started with poking the ABB. He could see how initiating it now would get that leverage over the Undersiders. It would also give Tattletale something to do besides socializing. He also made a point to mention his awareness of her social interactions as a subtle bit of leverage, then he told her to plan the hit on the ABB cash source. This would keep her in line for now.

* * *

 _January 19, 2011, Brockton Bay, 11:14 AM_

Coil read through Tattletale's report on Maker, in the timeline that he would discard, he was snooping on more detailed, classified versions of the same reports at the PRT HQ.

He always thought of himself as Coil, Thomas Calvert was a very useful cover, but commander Calvert had perished back in Ellisburg. He was Coil, and he was going to lead the Bay's underworld to a better future.

The new tinker was a troublesome prospect, Coil wished he'd known of him when the tinker was starting out. It would be much more difficult to suborn him now, his association with the Senguptas were possibly a good thing, but it was offset by the fact that he worked with Glory Girl. Hopefully it was a one-off thing. Anyway, he had to test this tinker out, if things worked out well, he expected to acquire the cape, a combat-capable versatile tinker with healing tech would be a game changer for his plans.

It would be nice if Maker would listen to reason once captured, he didn't like to employ harsher methods of manipulation. He knew he could get away with almost anything with his power, but he'd seen monsters who looked like men in Ellisburg, and he didn't want to turn into one. So he kept his guilty pleasures as treats for rare occasions, and sometimes to vent frustration or boredom, but always in moderation. Control was important.

The other new cape, Swarm, was another potential addition for the Undersiders, but as of now she was too elusive to confront. He'd need to see how to remedy that later.

He arranged the ambush according to the patrol route that Tattletale provided. Two plants would enact a mugging as the tinker passed by, when Maker would intervene, his men placed around the spot would attempt to subdue and capture him. He'd also put one sniper on the roof of a building with a good vantage of the ambush spot. He'd also acquired the feed of a good quality cctv camera with a good angle to view the proceedings.

When he got confirmation that Maker had been spotted. He split the timelines, in the first one, he sent the abort code and prepared for bed. In the second one, he sent the go code and opened up the feed to watch.

The plants started to enact the mugging, the muggee cried out loudly for help - god that was so over the top, he should invest in mercenaries with better acting skills. Maker swooped down from a nearby building and hit the leg of the mugger in his signature move. As he straightened up and turned to speak to the so-called victim, two of his men fired at his legs with their tinkertech lasers. Three more men ran out of cover at him, shouting at him to surrender.

Maker stumbled, then red eyes appeared on his otherwise smooth faceplate. He started moving almost too fast for the camera to see, all Coil could spot was his hands spraying glowing blue bolts with frightening accuracy at _all_ of his men. The sniper confirmed over the radio that the men were down. He could see that for himself, all of them had smoking holes in their heads, right between the eyes... even the mugging enactors. Maker stood in the middle of the narrow lane as his men fell into ungainly heaps, one of them even tumbled down from a second storey window.

The sniper asked for a go ahead to take the shot, he replied with an affirmative, trying his best to keep the quiver out of his voice. Maker whipped out his arm and fired another blue bolt, the sniper's comm line gurgled, then fell quiet.

Coil was still in shock at the efficient brutality he just witnessed, he was going to close the timeline, but then his eyes widened as he looked at the feed.

Maker was looking right at the camera, a cartoonish toothy grin lit up on his faceplate to accompany the red eyes. He lifted a finger and waggled it in an admonishing 'no'.

Coil hurriedly shut down that timeline. He had no explanation for what just happened. An unconscious shiver of fear wriggled up his spine. This was bad, this was very bad. The tinker was far, far more dangerous than expected. And his tech was probably much more advanced than either the PRT or the cape geeks suspected.

Coil needed a stronger hand. If this guy couldn't be suborned, he needed to be neutralized. He sat down on his computer and drafted two mails. He was going to bring in some heavy hitters. Till then, he needed to be wary of Maker.

* * *

 _January 28, 2011, Brockton Bay, 10:13 AM_

Coil was having a lot of fun. Not in this timeline, he was being the good PRT consultant here. In the other one he was repeatedly trying out different scenarios to get a proper gauge on the capabilities of the Travellers. He'd wanted heavy hitters, he'd got them. By now he had a whole team of his best mercs killed thrice, the base overrun by rampant clones twice, even had the vault broken through once. Noelle was staying confined in there completely voluntarily. As fun as these exercises were, he did realize that he might have bitten of slightly more than he can chew with these guys. At least they were more than a match for Maker. He should concoct a scenario to test that soon.

Apart from that, things were going well, the hit on the ABB was a resounding success, he'd even congratulated Tattletale on it. The ABB were sure to retaliate, and he'd get to play the benevolent boss. Tattletale's planning skills and focus had risen a whole notch, the socializing did indeed have a good effect.

The meeting finished as the clock hit eleven. He walked out of the meeting room and texted with his check-in password and received the _All Clear_. He was walking towards the cafeteria, closing the other timeline and splitting again, to try to see which members of the Travelers could be subverted to work against each other, it was important information to have. His phone chimed again, his eyes widened as he read the message.

 _System Compromised_.

Shit, this was the third party contractor who he'd set up with a program that had no other access privileges apart from running diagnostics with developer credentials on his servers once every month, this alert meant the diagnostics had found something. He'd paid top dollar for his digital security, the toybox servers were no mean feat to break into. The only cape who could do it with some effort would be Dragon, but why? What motivation...

He stopped himself from thinking in circles. Dropped the spare timeline and split again to double his thinking capacity. Dragon, no, made no sense, who else was capable of breaking tinkertech online security and the means and motive to do it?

Tattletale.

She treated the PRT servers as her playground, breaking heavy passworded security was her passtime. Coil checked his pockets, his dongle was safe with him. He was going to have words with Toybox. In one timeline, he resumed his activities at the PRT offices, in the other timeline. He messaged the mercs who were on Tattletail duty (he smirked at his own pun) to apprehend her when she came out of the loft and headed for her apartment. Then secure her for a special rendezvous.

He left the PRT building in that timeline, changed into his real identity (he was quite proud of the menacing look of the costume) and waited for the limo to arrive. He entered the limo to find Tattletale sitting there looking smug as usual between the two men who were restraining her.

"Hey Coil, you could have just called me. we were supposed to meet this evening anyway for debrief. So the ABB..." Her smugness was infuriating.

He had no time for games, "Keep quiet." He signaled to the third man beside him, who nodded and brought out a vial and syringe. This drug was slightly better than the usual truth serums, it lowered inhibitions by a significant amount, he avoided using it because there were some long term cognitive side effects. But if he had to dumb the girl down a bit to keep her in line, so be it, her power should compensate for the shortcoming.

She eyed them with a frown, "C'mon boss, no need for that shit. Just ask me... OW" The man had plunged the syringe in her thigh. "What the fuck? What's gotten into you?..." She struggled a bit but the men held her tight.

He tuned her babbling out... soon she fell quiet, her eyes took a glazed, droopy look. The drug acted fast. He spoke.

"Tattletale."

"Yeah."

"Have you hacked into my servers?"

"Yes, yes I have." she giggled a bit.

"Why?"

"... To see what you're up to?" She let out a mild chuckle.

"Don't deflect. Why else?"

"To see what safeguards you have."

"What's your goal?"

"To end you. Isn't it obvious?" She seemed a bit perturbed, probably didn't expect to blurt it out like that. Coil's eyebrows rose inside his mask, he didn't know it was this bad.

"How did you beat the dongle security?"

"Uh... Spoofed it."

"How? Elaborate?"

"You're going down Coil, that's how."

"Stop deflecting. How did you spoof it?"

A bit of her usual fire seemed to return in her eyes. She spat at him, "Fuck you Calvert. That's how" The mercs' stoic demeanour cracked at this.

Coil was furious. This has gone too far, she knew too much. He pulled out a gun and shot her point blank. Blood sprayed all over as she slumped down, the mercs didn't bat an eyelid. Good men, these. That was carthartic, but this timeline was useless, he didn't want to waste good men on a security issue. Then he closed that timeline, and split it again.

He had to terminate Tattletale, she was his best asset but this was way out of line. He wouldn't have suspected any of this without his failsafes. Caution pays. And it was time to err on the side of it. He'd make do without Tattletale, she'd given him enough intel to last him for months to come, and he knew when to cut his losses. Also, honestly, he was quite pissed at being made a fool of.

In one timeline, he remained in his PRT office, taking a bit of time to mourn the loss. In the other timeline, he exited the PRT compound, got into his car, then sent the execution command. The assassin did good, clean work, he choked his targets to unconsciousness, then snapped their necks. Very professional and quiet.

He got the confirmation within a few minutes. He sighed deeply in both timelines. Safeguarding his identity was paramount, but no one liked losses. He was heading home, he'd go to the base in the night. Maybe play a bit more with the Travelers.

He received another call, this was the other tail man. Good infiltrator. He received the call, the man had heard a muffled explosion in the apartment. That was... not right. He sent the man to go check. Then veered towards his base, he still had a safe timeline to fall back to, though he had this vague feeling that something was majorly wrong. Tattletale must have had some failsafe too, he needed to get in touch with Toybox to see if she'd left any traps in the server.

The other man didn't call back. Coil would have been very worried if he didn't have the backup timeline. He reached his base, and hurried to his office.

He entered his office, sat down at his terminal and fired it up.

Nothing happened.

What?

He tapped the intercom button on his desk.

Nothing happened.

Then there was a faint buzz, not so faint, it was rising in volume. What the fuck was happening? What had Tattletale done?

The buzz grew louder, then there was a mass of bugs coming out of the airvents. They formed into a supremely formidable and supremely creepy female shape. That was Swarm. How was she involved in this?

This was entirely wrong, he needed to get to the bottom of this. His previous interrogation of Tattletale might have been too hasty. He needed to try again with a calmer head. He decided to close this timeline.

The other timeline closed.

What the actual fuck? This was his nightmare, more than anything, more than Ellisburg, he feared someday he'd end up discarding the wrong timeline. But that wasn't the case, he was sure he had tried to close this timeline, how the fuck did the other one close? What was happening?

"Coil." That voice was wrongness. It evoked a primal fear somewhere in him. He reached under the table and hit the panic button for his emergency exit.

Obviously, nothing happened.

He split the timelines.

For the first time ever, something was different in one of the timelines without any input from him. The Swarm just dissipated into aimless, droning bugs...

"It won't work." The Swarm in the other timeline said. He tried to close that timeline.

The timeline with the dispersed swarm closed.

He tried it twice more, every time the same thing. Swarm must be a trump. This was very, very bad. He split again, and tried to find an exit in the timeline where Swarm dissipated, some of the bugs bit him randomly, it was extremely painful. He closed it and decided to face the music. He had to keep his composure.

"Swarm. Welcome. What brings you here?"

"Why did you kill Tattletale?" Again that voice, an unbidden shiver of chill creeped up his spine.

"I didn't know you were acquainted?"

"The spiders climbing up your left arm, they're Brown Recluses. Known for bites that rot flesh." Coil jerked and tried to brush them off. "Don't move, or they'll bite. The ones on your right arm, they're velvet ants, also known as cow killers."

He gulped. Composure was really hard to keep. "What do you want?"

"Why did you kill Tattletale?"

"I.. I found out she had gotten hold of some very... uh sensitive information and that she was trying to kill me." Maybe honesty would work here.

"You utter moron." The venom in that voice chilled him to the core. It also made him defiant. He had survived Ellisburg, he was going to survive this. Time to show this creepy bitch what preparedness could do.

He lunged from his chair, shaking his arms in the process. He got bitten nonetheless, he hissed with pain as he banged on a part of the door where the panel was built thin on purpose, it broke and he ripped out the soundproofing foam. He got a few more bug bites but he endured.

One last failsafe, live or die. He shouted at the top of his lungs through the now non-soundproof hole, "CODE GAMMA ELDRITCH, I REPEAT, CODE GAMMA ELDRaaaaAAGH!"

Pain overrode his senses, he'd gotten so many bites simultaneously that he couldn't even tell where it hurt. Swarm looked on dispassionately as he slumped down at the door.

Then reality cracked in the middle of the room.

That was Maker, no doubt, he wouldn't ever forget that ghostly blue glow.

He'd felt desperation, and he was beyond any shred of pride now. He had to hope that the code was executed. The Travellers would take care of them, if nothing then Noelle would go on a rampage. He only had to survive, and he'd say anything to survive. "Maker, please... Please stop her. I'll give you whatever you..."

" **You utter moron.** " Maker's voice boomed, Coil watched the blue glowing fingers touch his head.

There was a blue flash.

Then nothing.

* * *

 _?, New York, ?_

Coil's senses returned as if he just woke up from a dream. Well, that was a good explanation. He'd give a lot to be able to write off his last memories as a dream. His power was usually good for it. Unless they encountered a fucking trump.

He blearily opened his eyes, everything was blurry. He was still slightly disoriented. Did the Travelers fail him? The the guard outside not hear him? What. Just. Happened?

He blinked as his eyes acclimated and focused. This looked like a standard PRT interrogation room setup. Were they naiive enough to hand him over to the PRT? Good enough for him, it'd be slightly difficult, but he had enough plants and moles here to arrange an escape.

He tried splitting and closing different timelines. They worked fine, good, his power was not permanently wrecked.

The door opened. He tried to stand up, then noticed that he was restrained to the chair.

Then Legend walked in.

...

"What." He realized he'd said it out loud.

"You're in trouble. Mr. Calvert. That's what." That meant he was officially unmasked, that was bad.

He split timelines. In one, he asked, "What do you mean?"

Legend frowned, "You've got a phenomenal power, and you've been using it to petty ends, when you could contribute to the world in a much more meaningful way."

In the other timeline he was a bit more aggressive, "Listen, whatever Maker has told you, It's a blatant attempt to frame me."

Legend frowned, "Maker? You mean the cape who contributed to the latest endbringer fight to make it one with the least casualties ever? That Maker? What's he got to do with you?"

That, that didn't compute... unless...

"What date is today?" He asked in both timelines.

Legend smiled, "Wouldn't you like to know? Listen man. I'll give it to you straight. Your crimes are much less unsavoury than quite a few other capes, but honestly, you're a walking security risk. By the way, don't try splitting timelines to pump me for information. I'm not going to spill much in either of them. Right now you're in permanent M/S quarantine till we decide otherwise. So, sorry, no info for you."

"Huh?" He'd forgotten to react differently in either timeline... This was... out of his depth.

"Seems you're not coherent yet. Anyway, I just came in to pass the good word. This is not Brockton Bay, you don't have any moles here. Please don't try stirring up trouble. I hope you cooperate with the people who come in for your power testing and debriefing. If you're nice enough with our trial runs on your power providing strategic outcome control. We'll try to provide you with some information and amenities." Legend smiled genially, then got up to leave.

Near the door, he turned back once and cleared his throat. Coil was still dazed, this must be a dream, what else? Coil looked up.

Legend's smile turned a tad playful, "Ahem. I'd almost forgotten to say. I was asked to give you a message. Would you like to hear it?"

Coil nodded dumbly.

"Tattletale says Hi."


	42. Bioshock 6-0

**Bioshock 6.0**

 _January 28, 2011, Brockton Bay, 5:34 PM_

I kept an eye on the proceedings that Taylor was sending as I made my way to Coil's Lair. She had things pretty much under control, so I didn't pump my speed to levels that would start draining my mana. Meanwhile, despite my misgivings, I forced myself to recall the inadvertent scan of Lisa's body I'd made.

I spun off a parallel mind to analyze the scan, the body was inarguably dead, neck snapped, massive neuronal death due to oxygen loss. Could I have tried to revive her there? She was well beyond what Heal could fix, and the little knowledge I'd learnt from watching Amy fix brains was that she never tried to revive dead neurons, just repaired the damaged ones. Even if I did revive her, she'd have lost a lot of herself.

I knew at the back of my mind that I possibly could simply remake her from yesterday's scan, but would that result in just another comatose body? It was my last hope that I could do something about that, and I was reluctant to test it out anytime soon.

Also, who the fuck burns everything in a fit of rage? I had no idea that I was a closet pyromaniac. I'd need to tweak the activation controls for Gamer's mind a bit more, seems I'd loosened it too much towards manual control after the awkward activation near Taylor's locker. Anyway, the current priority was Coil, better to hold on to my hope while I dealt with him.

The guy really was a complete moron, why on earth would he think killing Lisa would stop his downfall? He must've gotten something from her in his precog timelines, and Lisa must have not let our names slip. A wave of grief and frustration again rippled in the back of my mind even as I reinforced my mental controls and went back to watching the scan.

The marks on her hand, they were too regular to have been random scratching - a combination of straight and angled scratches. Was there a code in the angles? The count of the scratches? Ugh, I was still to disturbed to think coherently. I chose defer to a better mind for this, I took a snapshot of the scratches and sent it to Taylor. She received it and said she was working on it.

As I was entering the service entrance which served as Coil's emergency exit, I only stopped to slice through a few doors in the ID that I was travelling through. I was almost there when I saw Coil lunge to the door and call out his code before Swarm could subdue him. I poured in speed till I reached his office. Once I came out of the ID, I almost stumbled as I saw Coil's label - his threat level had dropped down from ? ? ? to Lvl. 38.

What?

I shot off an Observe as I walked up to him, he was babbling the kind of nonsense that anyone under torture did. Oh, the observe results made sense, he had been stripped of all his failsafes and/or modes of communication. In his last desperate gambit he'd also activated his biggest failsafe. Code Gamma meant the base is compromised, and I didn't have to think too hard to guess what the 'Eldritch' part meant. Of course his threat level had dropped.

"You utter moron." I echoed Taylor's sentiment as I scanned him, then fleshcrafted him into biomass and inventoried the remains.

Swarm gave me a gobsmacked look, "Did you just kill him?" In the course of making her Avatar look natural she'd made it mimic her emotions too closely, I'd warn her about it later.

I shrugged, "If Lisa lives, he'll live."

Swarm stilled, then nodded. Smart girl. "Oh. I see... By the way, I couldn't stop the code from propagating, the guards outside radioed it across before I could bring them down."

I nodded, I'd gathered as much from Coil's dramatic level drop anyway, "We don't know the countercode to Gamma Eldritch. Keep your eyes on the vault level. How long will it take you to subdue all the mercs here?"

Swarm looked pensive, "I didn't have enough time to bring a sizeable swarm through the vents, I was focusing on this office. I've put the base in lockdown, most mercs are trapped in whichever rooms they were... Wait, how many tranq bugs do you have?"

"A few hundred, I can make more."

Swarm nodded, "Give me about two thousand, it'll be enough to tranq all of them. But locked doors might not be enough to stop the Travellers. I can possibly tranq Ballistic and Genesis... but the others."

I nodded, brought out the bugs from the inventory and started fleshcrafting them into batches of duplicates, as soon as each batch was made, Taylor took control and took them up into the vents. I spoke as I worked, "Don't attempt to tranq Sundancer or Genesis, the former will just burn your bugs and Genesis' power works in a dream state, focus on keeping her awake. We'll have to try and communicate with Trickster. He's possibly the only one amongst them who'll listen to us."

Swarm nodded, "Got it. By the way, Sundancer is out, she's burned through the door and is on the way to liberate the others from their rooms. Also, one of the two guards at the Vault level is approaching the Vault panel, not to worry, the unlock code won't work, I've changed it."

I'd made about 1500 tranq wasps by now, suddenly, Swarm looked alarmed, "Maker, the Vault opened! He used an unknown code, must be a hardware override! I still don't have enough bugs there! This much should be enough, go! Now! He's telling Noelle that Coil and her team is in danger!"

I nodded, dropped into an ID and started busting through doors to the elevator shaft. On my way I messaged Taylor, _"Try to talk to Trickster, tell him I'm trying to Heal Noelle."_

Taylor gave me a bug-map of the Vault level, the mercs on that level were trying to flee, I had no idea what Noelle was doing, I could only see her as a big void in the map. Taylor let the two fleeing mercs into a lift and then locked it down halfway up to the next floor, she'll deal with them.

As I was dropping down the cargo Lift shaft, Taylor messaged me, _"Aveek, you were overthinking the code, the angled slashes are dashes, the straight ones are dots."_

Dammit, of course Lisa would leave me something in Morse Code... I quickly recalled the scan and decoded the message.

1EGONTLIVE

Huh?... Huh?

1 EGO, NOT LIVE?

Did she mean that if I revived her from a previous scan she would still be dead? Or did it mean that she would not consider that being alive? But she was not one for that kind of philosophy, or else she'd have had problems with my cloned bodies! And what did she mean by one ego? Dammit Lisa! Didn't you find any other time to be cryptic?

I was at the vault level, I shapeshifted into a Calvert-like body and equipped Coil's costume. Then I came out of the ID a few turns away from where the big blank of Noelle was.

I walked out calmly into the view of the chimera girl, "Ms. Meinhardt, not to worry, it was a false alarm."

She looked startled, all of her extra limbs and heads still looked agitated, "Coil! Are you sure?"

I nodded politely as I stopped about 5 metres away from her. Let this work, let this work, I had no intention of going into combat with someone whose level was in the thousands...

Her eyes narrowed again, "What's the release code?"

Fuck. "Gamma Alpha Charlie." I was guessing out of my Arse, Lisa would have figured it out!

A ridiculously fast tentacle formed and lashed out towards me, I didn't have time to react. It slammed me into the wall, the momentary lance of pain and shock was disorienting, but subsided quickly, thank you Gamer's Body. Shit, there went almost half my HP. "Ms. Meinhardt..."

"There was no release code! Who are you? What have you done with my team?!" A gigantic hand picked me up like a ragdoll and brought me face to face with her.

Okay, plan B then, I sent out a scan, ugh, damn her dimension-fucking core, 450 MP was enough to scan a mountain!

"THIS BLUE... YOU'RE MAKER! I SAW VIDEOS, THIS BLUE LIGHT. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH KROUSE?!"

"Noelle, Your team is fine, my enmity was with Coil. He's all I came for. I want to help you..." I worked frantically as I was talking, swapping Noelle's current brain in the healed template I'd created yesterday, it took only a few seconds.

"LIAR! COIL TOLD US YOU'D TRY TO SWEET TALK US! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?!"

I didn't bother replying to her, I just applied fleshcrafting with the fresh template. No time to ask for permission, there was another blue flash...

A few gouges appeared on her body as she let out an ear-splitting shriek. A body appeared on the giant arm, it was her healed body, hanging out of the arm limply.

* * *

 **WARNING**

 **Fleshcraft failed! Insufficient Mana.**

 **Dimensional Anomaly detected. Target is dimensionally anchored.**

 **Reminder - Rob is a dick.**

 **A singular ego will not be allowed to have more than one discrete conscious instance!**

* * *

Shit, this was bad. The limp body was quickly absorbed back into the arm, which jerked a bit around as the gouges on her body filled up with bubbling flesh faster than I expected. She was almost crushing me in her grip, and my MP had just started climbing back up from zero. But I was too distracted to notice any of that.

That sentence! A singular ego! I had set it to auto archive after I'd tried to make my first clone!

I remembered repeating that statement to Lisa when she'd asked if the clone bodies were separate instances of me. But I'd always focused more on the discrete/continuous parts.

That's what she meant! The clones came out unconscious because another discrete instance was alive. She was not currently alive, which meant remaking her would create a singular ego, she'd not be comatose! YES! Thank you for that reminder AI, you're the best!

My glee was cut short as Noelle kept shrieking incoherently, the hand brought me closer, I didn't have enough mana to do anything substantial. My HP was also alarmingly low. Unboosted and in a weaker-than-Maker avatar, my strength was no match for her.

Suddenly the hand released me. I looked down to land and jump away, and realized that I needn't bother, a gaping maw had opened up on her body below me.

I received an anonymity protocol alert that I'd been scanned as I was engulfed by the maw. I diffused whatever mana that had regenerated into my body, my consciousness was slipping. I shifted into the Maker Avatar but my HP remained low and kept dropping. Possibly due to whatever digestive fluids she had. I equipped my construct armor, the full-face version was hermetically sealed, then let the mana infusing my body accumulate with the intent of casting Heal when there was sufficient MP for it.

Then oblivion overtook me.


	43. Bioshock 6-1

**Bioshock 6.1**  
 _January 28, 2011, Brockton Bay, 5:42 PM_

 _[Confusion] "Aveek! What the fuck are you saying? Confirm and reply to this message!"_

 _[Message-Memory of a bug-map version of me adressing a bunch of insects] "Swarm, we're friends right? Trust me. Maker is fine. Bring the Cargo lift down, let Noelle go up and check on her teammates. Maker would be released."_

 _[Frustration] "Aveek! Are you alright? I think that's one of your clone bodies, but it's not you. My party screen shows your HP has recovered. Reply dammit!"_

 _[memory of a bug-map version of me] "Wait a minute. You're Taylor! How could I have not made that connection? Heh, good job on concealing your cape id from me till date... C'mon Taylor, I'm telling you to unlock the doors, just let me go up. Whatever's up with Coil is not an issue. Or just call Lisa, she'll help fix this mess."_

 _[Concern] "Yeah, that's not your clone. I guess this is Noelle's power. It's a perfect clone of your default anonymity protocols. It figured out my id from its civillian memories. You need to change this default ASAP. Reply already!"_

 _[memory of a bug-map version of me] "Dammit you bitch! I befriended you, saved your ass and this is how you fucking repay me? I'll stop being friends with you. You'll go back to being alone! You're just a pastime project for me you hear? Just a broken toy to be fixed!"_

 _[Amusement, bitterness] "Holy fuck you can be hurtful when you want to be. Anyway, I'm speaking to Trickster. I tranqed Ballistic before he could go ballistic. It was hard to reach them, they've holed up in a room and Sundancer kept burning up the swarm clones. He's skeptical, but he's listening. I'm also telling him that you'd heal Genesis. They'd want to see Noelle soon. Wake the fuck up!"_

 _[memory of a bug-map version of me] "I swear Noelle will Kill Maker if you don't listen to me right now! Maker was wrong! Noelle isn't dangerous... Maker tried to kill Noelle! Please, Taylor, listen to reason! I.. I'm begging you! Let us out!"_

 _[Anger, pity] "That's enough, I'm tranqing this knockoff. If you don't respond in a minute, I'll have to let the Travellers come down to the vault level."_

I woke up to a slew of messages. Whoa, it made sense that Noelle would have a ridiculously high threat rating if this was her power. Thank Rob Taylor kept her head cool.

Phew! I'd thought I was a goner when I was being eaten. I checked the time, I was out for three minutes, my status had been 'asleep', the Heal had worked on my HP, but Noelle's belly juices had something that had put me under. The construct armor seal worked, but I was still down for the time that my HP regen worked through the remaining fluid inside the armor or something. Stupid game mechanics.

Anyway, first things first. _"Taylor. I'm up now - sedatives in Noelle's gastric juices. Feel free to take that clone down. And give me a minute or two. Her healing did not work last time, but I know what to fix. I'll work on her from the inside."_

And yeah she was right about the protocols, just having a civilian me without cape knowledge would not cut it anymore. I was chuffed to know that I was smart enough to figure out Taylor's ID just from the half-baked memories of the protocol but that was not a good thing. A clone of this kind could cause substantial damage out in the open.

Anyway, all that was for later. Lisa's clue had given me more ideas. The heal was failing because the core was dimensionally anomalous and it was linked to Noelle's brain, or ego; first step was to get rid of that link. It would also be a good test of the theory.

I was going to need a lot more mana for this. I had 50 stat points in store after the last round of hospital healing had pushed my level to 22 from reading all those new scans. I dumped 48 points in INT to push it to 100 and the remaining 2 points in WIS upping it to 54, every drop counted. Oh! I got a new skill! _Telekinesis_ , sweet! My MP bar filled up within a few seconds to 3450 MP. That should be enough.

 _"Thank goodness. I was beginning to panic. Do whatever you need to, but fast. The clone has been tranqed. Noelle has ripped open the cargo lift doors and is trying to climb up the shaft, I've brought the lift platform to the level above her to block her way but it won't hold if she wants to go through it. The travelers are getting restless, I've already told them about Lisa, I'm running out of stalling fodder."_ Taylor Messaged.

Yeah, I could feel her tentacles drilling into the shaft walls and trying to climb up. Yeesh! How big had she gotten? The cargo lift shaft was big enough to carry two container trucks side by side! Anyway, time for action, I pushed out mana around me, scanning as it went out, as usual, by the time it reached the core, I was down 450 MP, I waited another few seconds for it to top up. I was in some kind of cocoon-womb thing inside Noelle, I tried to apply fleshcrafting to see if it would still fail, it did. The core was within my 3 metre mana projection range, I created the construct in my mind first.

I materialized the construct in phases, a basketball hoop-sized diamond ring around the core, which spun while extruding itself to form a full diamond sphere around it, cutting it off from the rest of the body. That cost me 2500MP, I could hear her multiple heads shrieking again as the tentacles went limp and we fell down back to the base of the shaft.

I had to work fast, pressure was building inside the sphere. I applied fleshcrafting to the rest of the body, absorbing the extra biomass into the inventory and using the last template of healed Noelle that I had, no need to retain her memories of my botched heal and the clone mess.

There was a blue flash, and it worked! Q. .D! I spent a smidge of mana to materialize a silk smock around her, nudity was always an issue even in the direst of times. The pressure inside the diamond sphere was still steadily building, I was pumping all my spare mana into thickening the shell. Its label had also changed.

 **(Mother of Janus)**  
 **Noelle's Mutated Gemma Core**  
 **Lvl. ? ? ? Shard link**

And the girl sitting beside me, blinking blearily:

 **(Freshly DeZiz'd)**  
 **Noelle Meinhardt**  
 **Lvl. 12 Professional Gamer**

Bah! Talk about coincidences, Noelle was still disoriented, "Wha... You're Maker! What have you... WHAAA!"

The pressure inside the diamond shell had reached ridiculous levels, so I opened a hole on top of the sphere before it could explode. Biomass gushed out as it started forming more chimera legs that tried to make it stand, it was also starting to form something that looked like her, oops! I closed the hole again and quickly biomassed and inventoried the stuff, pressure started building again.

I turned to Noelle and shifted my faceplate to half-mask, "I healed you, that's what, now quickly go to your teammates and get Sundancer down here, I can't deal with this by myself."

She was still gaping at it, "What the fuck is that?!"

"That's your mutated power core, I separated you from it, now it's trying to rebuild a body. It needs to be destroyed. Follow the arrows! GO!"

"What arrows?! Oh!" She noticed the arrows made of fireflies pointing to the passenger lift corridor, Taylor must have taken care of the mercs inside already. Noelle gave a shaky nod and ran out towards the pointed direction.

The shell was again feeling like it was going to burst. This time I opened two holes on two sides, biomass sprayed out again, forming tentacles, which were coming for me! I sharpened the edges of the hole as much as I could, then used my newfound Telekinesis to make the sphere spin, pushing half of my initial mana into a burst of torque. It was a nice little skill, as usual a mana hog at Lvl.1 but all it did was the same thing that I did with kinetic conversion of mana into force, only instead of having to think up a dozen force vectors - it let me concentrate on the effect I wanted.

The tentacles sheared off, biomass kept spraying out in more tentacles but got severed as soon as it grabbed hold of something. Sadly that something was me, I got tentacle-slapped into the wall again for a quarter of my HP, the sphere fell away from my projection range but didn't disintegrate, thank you construct persistence. The spin slowed down as it kept spreading and forking tentacles like a spiderweb originating from the sphere, I flew back into range with full boost, created a construct sword and started cutting off the tentacle web, pushing the sphere to spin again.

The tentacles stopped coming out, I quickly chopped off the rest and inventoried the extra biomass lying around, this place was beginning to look like a slaughterhouse with all the blood and flesh bits lying around. The sphere slowed down again, I scanned it, the bloody thing was counterspinning inside!

Okay, I really had no clue what to do about this, I turned all the scanning mana I had in the core into pure thermal energy... yeah I took a cue from my enraged self, sue me. There was a flash of fire and the smell of cooked flesh... eugh, I closed my mask back to the sealed mode.

The core was pretty much undamaged it seemed, but it had stopped doing anything. I went in closer and gave it another scan, yep, undamaged, but dormant. I didn't remove the shell, it would be stupid to be caught in a fake-out. Even if this was a fake out, It had given me time to prepare, I touched the sphere and dropped into an ID.

It didn't work, the core didn't come, I got a warning that the core was dimensionally anchored. Of course it won't work, bloody high level bosses. I opened a hole, created another Maker Avatar outside and switched primaries, there, backup body in place, I closed the hole. Then checked the message Taylor had sent me while I was trying to contain this abomination.

Oh, nice, it was an update on her side of things, I viewed the memory in my backup body's mind at thought-speed.

 _[Four people, one male lying down, one female sitting, one male and one female standing, the Travellers, there was a swarm clone forming outside the room, it spoke to them.]_  
 _"Stop burning me! I mean no harm! I just want to talk!"_

 _[The standing male, presumably Trickster, replied]_  
 _"Why did you attack Ballistic if you wanted to just talk?"_

 _"Because he was shooting through the walls randomly! He could have injured anyone!"_

 _"Don't come in, talk from outside! You're Swarm?"_

 _"Yes, yes I am. I'm the one who took down Coil and I have taken control of this base. But I have nothing against you guys!"_

 _"How do we trust you?"_

 _"If you know anything about me. You know that I'm a bunch of insects. I have been in this base since the last three days. If I wanted to, I could have pumped you with lethal insect venoms while you slept."_

 _[Trickster balked as Sundancer and Genesis shuddered.]_

Ah, Taylor, you really have no idea how to do subtle or diplomatic do you? A fraction of a second had passed, still no move from the core, I continued speed-watching the memory.  
 _  
[Trickster spoke up again.]_  
 _"Then why attack now?"_

 _"Because Coil had my close friend assassinated a few minutes ago. So Maker came and killed him."_

 _[Trickster seemed agitated]_  
 _"Maker? The healing tinker Maker? Are you working with him? We were warned about him."_

 _"I am now, the girl who was killed was also Maker's Girlfriend, Coil had her abducted on gunpoint just because she was a useful cape to him. Also, Coil was lying, Maker had done nothing to him till today and Coil had no intention or connections to heal your friend."_

On the other hand, Taylor had her own heavy handed methods of manipulation. Meh, who was I to complain? I used the shocking infodump trick often enough...

 _"Shit, okay. Listen, no harm done, we'll just leave. We grab our friend from downstairs and drive out. That okay with you?"_

 _"You don't have to leave. Maker is a healer, he has already offered to deliver what Coil promised you the moment he learned that you were here. In fact he has also offered to heal Genesis here."_

 _"Why the fuck would he offer that? What does he want in return?"_

 _"I wouldn't know. But from what I know of him, the most he will request of you is that you don't harm civilians in your activities. He's a healer, he heals people for free, why the fuck would he not heal you?"_

 _"Because we're villains!"_

 _"Who told you he was a hero?"_

 _"He's a Villain?!"_

 _[Swarm's buzz got louder]_  
 _"No you idiot! He doesn't give two shits about heroes and villains until you guys start harming civilians and destroying property!"_

Aww Taylor, you do care!

 _[The Travellers stood dumbfound for a while. Genesis whispered.]_  
 _"I'm taking the deal."_

 _"Shut up Genesis." [Trickster hissed.] "Sounds good, then we'll go down and meet our friend, Maker can come and try to heal her."_

 _"Yeah, you'll need to go down there, but not for your friend. Maker has already healed her, she's coming over to explain things. Don't burn her when she enters."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Trickster!" [Noelle ran into the room]_

 _"Noelle! Noelle?" [Trickster took a step back.] "Prove it's you!"_

 _"You hit on me with the lamest pickup line after I handed you your ass in Age of Empires the first time we met."_

 _"You were not supposed to tell anyone that!" [Cue emotionally charged hug]_

 _"Wait, Sundancer needs to go downstairs right now, Maker has separated and trapped my power core, it needs to be destroyed!"_

 _"What do you mean?"[That was Sundancer.]_

The core chose this time to react, it again sprayed biomass, but this time it was from one hole only, It shot off like a rocket towards the other side of the lift shaft. I stopped viewing the memory and sped after it. It started growing explosively again. This time it formed Noelle's body first...

Dammit! I lunged and sliced the body off, It plopped down with a shriek, then I was tentacle slapped into a wall again for a third of my HP. I was getting tired of this, the severed body started decomposing. I jumped back in and closed the holes in the sphere again.

I messaged Taylor while cleaning up the biomass... again. _"Any time now Taylor! By the way, nice handling of the Travelers, make sure they don't approach this area. Only ask Sundancer to come."_

 _"They're almost there! Trickster insists on coming along!"_

 _"No! That bloody Simurgh Bomb! He's sure to fuck things up!"_

The pressure suddenly rose in the shell, before I could do anything, it exploded. I was slammed into the wall again as my HP dropped to zero.


	44. Bioshock 6-2

**Bioshock 6.2**

 _January 28, 2011, Instant Dimension, 5:47 PM_

* * *

 **YOU DIED**

 **Aaaand then you got better.**

 **Respawn Protocols Created.**

 **Skill: _NikuBunshinSwap Primary_ was auto-activated by AI.**

 **Respawn now enabled as long as spare Avatar body exists.**

* * *

 **YOU'VE RESPAWNED!**

 **You lose 1 level in each action skill.**

 **You lose 1 point from each stat.**

 **Level down: you're now level 21 again.**

 **You've lost the skill: Telekinesis.**

* * *

I blinked, standing in the ID in my backup body. Thank you AI, Fuck you Rob. Meh, the losses weren't much. I'd live. At least the MP topped up, that's what I needed the most right then.

But what the fuck was happening outside? I checked the time, only 3 seconds from when the shell exploded, okay, good. I opened a hole and created another Maker Avatar clone outside (in only the bodysuit, construct armor would take too much time), then swapped primary again.

Finally I looked at the mess around me, the walls and the floor were speckled with embedded diamond shards. Noelle's core at the corner was growing like a tumour timelapse, a Noelle-esque head already formed, screaming, "KROUSE! HELP ME!"

"Noelle!"

I snapped my head around to look at the source of that voice, Trickster, the Ziz'd buffoon, was running limply towards the core, ignoring the mass of bugs around him. The real Noelle (or maybe not? at least the sane one) and Sundancer were standing at the door, watching with their mouth agape.

 _"I've tranqed him, it'll take at least another 30 seconds to kick in. Any more would be a dangerously high dose."_ Not fast enough.

"Fuck!" I shot a taser bolt at Trickster, he looked at me, eyes wide, then the bolt hit my corpse, still wearing my glowing construct armor. I knew of his power. I turned back to look at where the corpse originally was, it was even closer to the Noelle-core. Trickster started approaching the core again. His limp getting more pronounced, the tranqs must have started working.

"Krouse! That's not me you imbecile!" Noelle screamed from the door, thankfully she was smart enough not to get closer. As Trickster looked back at Noelle, the Noelle-core screamed again, "KROOUUSE!"

I'd had enough of this, I went full boost, my reflexes sharpened, as Krouse was whipping his head back to look at the core, I took aim and hit him with a 50mp blast of white light right in his eyes as they swept past me.

"Aagh!" He clutched his eyes and dropped, a tentacle was growing towards him. No, just no.

I ran up to him and severed the tentacle with a force slice just as soon as it grabbed his bare ankle. Then I stunned him using one of Amy's unconsciousness tricks, picked him up and threw him at the door towards Noelle, "I'll heal him later! Sundancer! What are you waiting for?"

The Noelle-core was already as big as a phone booth now, the Noelle head was forming a Noelle Body, which was still screaming, "MARRISSAAA!" Aw fuck. Sundancer was radiating fear, disgust and confusion, looking alternatively at Noelle and the core. I aimed a force slice at the forming torso, it lopped off again. I was prepared for its next move, I constructed a tungsten broadsword and waved it, slicing the oncoming tentacle, "Not again you fucking squid!" I'd gotten my fill of tentacle slaps for the day, thank you very much.

The fallen Noelle body began to decompose and disintegrate, while the chimera started growing another head, "SUNDANCER! FUCKING BURN IT!" I yelled.

A slit opened up in the body, it was already minivan sized now, something spat out of the slit with a lot of blood and goop. Ew, a trickster clone. It started getting up, it's each movement was a teleport flicker about 6 inches apart, it looked liked all the Aleph Japanese horror movies I ever saw combined. Sundancer screamed and formed a tiny sun between her palms. Noelle began dragging Trickster away from her, shouting, "Do it you bimbo!" Sundancer glared at her, the sun started growing.

The Trickster clone's movements were growing faster, it was beginning to flicker-shamble towards us. I jumped at it and sliced its head off, I missed, it flickered ahead, I timed it's next flicker and sliced ahead. The head dropped, so did the body, no more Flickster. I fended off another tentacle-slap with the sword.

Sundancer's glare at Noelle turned into a smirk, "Only you would call me that." She turned and started walking towards the Noelle-core, which had already formed another head, it screamed, "HELLP MARRIS..." I force-sliced it off.

The sun in her hand was now tennis-ball sized. Sundancer looked at me, "Move away Maker."

I nodded and jumped aside. I could feel the heat, My HP was dropping very slowly as I gained two levels in Thermal Resistance. The core aimed another tentacle at us, but it vaporized as it came near. It created two more heads which started screaming, I sliced them both off, no point traumatising Sundancer any more.

The sun was the size of a small melon now. My HP was dropping faster as I gained another level of resistance. I got behind her to shield myself from the radiation, my HP stopped dropping, parts of the core-flesh had started to catch fire.

Sundancer was looking like she was straining hard, so I put my hand on her shoulder, scan, heal, refresh, boost. She stood straighter, her steps got steadier. Glowing blue, she turned her head slightly and nodded in acknowledgement. I patted her shoulder softly, "Aim for the centre of mass."

She nodded again and moved her hands outwards, the sun began to move towards the Noelle-core, it's extremities already sizzling and burning, it tried to move away from the corner by extending a few tentacles but I kept severing them with mana-heavy but precise force-slices. It tried to create a multitude of screaming heads but they burned away as soon as they formed. The sun went in faster, vaporizing parts of her on proximity, I saw the core exposed, sizzling, smoking and trying to sink deeper into the flesh.

There was a keening noise as the sun touched the core, it seemed to unravel, then exploded with a loud pop. A mild shockwave made us stumble, it would possibly have made us fall over had we not both been boosted.

The rest of the burning flesh scattered and vaporized too, the sun finally blinked out. Sundancer let out a sigh, and sat down. I patted her shoulder again as I released the boost.

I walked up to my corpse, dissolved and absorbed it, the construct armor on it had dissipated by now. I created a fresh one on me.

Noelle walked back in through the door, giving me a nod as she passed me by, then went and sat down by Sundancer, the girls hugged each other and started sobbing.

Eh, this was awkward, I looked around for something to do, all the extra biomass had been burned up, there was a layer of ash and scorch marks all over the wall in the corner. Some exposed steel beams were still glowing red hot. Should I try cooling that down?

Swarm formed in front of the girls, "Ladies, job well done. I've opened up a mercs' dorm room a few floors above, it's got beds, a table and a coffee machine. Genesis has already moved herself and Ballistic there, her projection is coming down to take Trickster. Maker, you might want to heal his eyes. Otherwise just let him sleep the tranqs off. It'll be good for him."

 _"Taylor, you're a lifesaver"_ , I let her know as I walked off to comply. She replied _[Amusement] "I try, but that title goes tentatively to you for now. Now let's finish with these guys so that you can earn it and bring Lisa back."_

 _"You figured it out too?"_

 _"As soon as I got the code. I'd heard you mention that ego message to Lisa."_

Of course, omniscient little terror that she was. Come to think of it, I may not get the kill XP, but I should have gotten a ton of XP for the assist at least, and for Coil too... I checked my message logs, then scrolled up to the quest I'd gotten a few days back when I resolved to take Coil down.

There it was, hmm, the goals were to Neutralize Coil and his failsafes, and add Lisa to the party. Fair enough. That sounded like a good quest to finish...


	45. Bioshock 6-3

**Bioshock 6.3**

 _January 28, 2011, Coil's Base - Brockton Bay, 5:47 PM_

I finished healing Trickster's eyes, very minor damage, also healed the welts from the bug bites, but let the tranquilizers stay. Huh, his title had also changed to Freshly DeZiz'd. How? I could figure how getting rid of Noelle's mutated power would take care of her Simurgh influence, but how'd his go away? Oh well, food for later thought.

A six armed gorilla came out of the lift, Taylor had already shown me the silhouette of the form in a message, or else I'd be spooked. Genesis picked up Trickster and carried him off. Noelle and Sundancer joined them in the elevator, I waved them up and went off to deal with my clone.

 **(Not-So-Evil Twin)**  
 **Avik SenSharma (NPC) (Clone)**  
 **Lvl. 14 Accidental Human**  
 **Status: Unconscious**

Uh... What to do with this guy? I observed him, then replayed the memories relating to him... I've generally prided myself on avoiding philosophical/ethical/moral traps, but this guy wasn't supposed to exist. Yet there he was, a sentient sapient person, he spelled his name the way I had always wanted to, and he had a huge hateboner for the real Aveek.

I pulled harder on Gamer's Mind. He was a sentience created from twisted and incomplete fragments of my experiences, memories and personality. He wasn't supposed to exist, and I honestly couldn't think of an immediate way to let him keep on existing. I scanned, biomassed and inventoried him.

Even with Gamer's mind on, I felt like a dick.

Taylor told me to leave the Travelers to recover and come over to Coil's office. Ballistic and Trickster would take a few hours to wake up and they'd need some time to themselves. Fair enough, I complied.

As I made my way up to the office floor, Taylor redirected me to dozens of tranqed mercs in the hallways to be healed, properly sedated, disarmed and locked into rooms, we'd need to bring the base back to a semblance of order before they awoke.

When I reached Coil's office, Taylor was waiting there in costume, must've come in through the emergency exit while all this shit was happening. She was sitting at Coil's desk, operating both her laptop and Coil's terminal with either hand. "Let's not wait any longer then." She said without lifting her head. I nodded.

I walked into the middle of the room, Taylor stood up from the machines and nodded at me as she dismissed her armor, "This room is off the record for now. Go ahead... wait." She moved the chair from Coil's desk out near me and turned it to face me. "Yeah, go ahead."

I dismissed my armour too, then replayed the memory of my last living scan of Lisa from the day before. I put my hand out at the correct height, recalled said scan, prepared the biomass inventory hole, then applied fleshcrafting with the scan as blueprint. Added in the extra mana to materialize her clothes too.

A blue flash.

Lisa appeared, holding my hand, the ever present smirk on her face, "Thank...Huh?"

She blinked and looked around a few times, confusion, surprise, dread, panic, understanding, sorrow... each of them flowed through her in a span of a second as she paled. She took a shaky breath, then sat down on the chair right behind her. "Did... Did the casino strike not go well?"

I had Gamer's Mind turned full on, and was doing my best to ignore the ridiculous mixture of crippling relief and grief in the back of my mind. What did you even call that? Grilief? Ugh, bad Gamer's Mind! Puns later! Focus now!

Taylor sent me a block of text with the instructions to print it out, it seemed like a bunch of concise excerpts of the events since yesterday in terribly butchered English. Huh, I should've thought of that, Taylor's Gamer's mind was much lower in level than mine, her mental stats were lower than mine. How come she had better composure right now? Argh! Focus!

Lisa was beginning to shake and hyperventilate, Taylor held her from behind the chair and was whispering placatives in her ear. I printed out the text in big fonts on a sheet of construct paper, materialized it and held it in front of her. Lisa focused on it immediately, her eyes kept getting wider.

"Legend's Rainbow Underpants!" Her breathing had slowed down, still shallow. She smiled wanly, "You guys hogged all the fun."

She reached up and patted Taylor's head, who nodded and let go of Lisa. Then she looked at me and frowned. Her eyes softened as confusion turned to understanding and then sadness. Why was she sad all of a sudden? What did she figure out about me?

"Whew!" She shook herself and got up, then she approached me and put a hand on my cheek. That should feel nice, why was it not feeling nice enough?

"Aveek."

This was odd, I had perfect tactical awareness of the room and its occupants, I was combat ready, there were no threats. Why the fuck could I not figure out what was up with her? Why did she have tears in her eyes?

"Aveek!"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my musings, focus, Aveek, focus. "Yes Lisa?"

"You fucking burned me to ashes!" There was mirth amidst the sadness. I didn't quite get the joke.

I replied with sincerity, "I apologize, but you were dead and I was not in complete control." It was not a good thing I did. Self control is very important. Why was she frowning again?

"It's alright. You can let go now." She was looking at me with sadness and sympathy? Why? Let go of what? Why the fuck was she crying? She was fucking alive for Rob's sake!

"Your mind Aveek. You can let go of the emotion control."

Ah, of course, Gamer's Mind, yeah, it always behaves a bit weird when it's full on in a non-tactical situation. She was right, I generally make it a point to not mask my emotions around her. I should let it go. I nodded and complied.

...

Horror, revulsion, grief, anger...

The weight of what I'd been through in the last half hour crashed upon me. I'd seen Lisa dead! I killed two mercs! I killed Coil! I fought with a true blue eldritch abomination! Eugh! Eugh! I had to kill Noelle so many times after saving her! I killed an innocent clone of mine! Lisa was back! Lisa was alive! I killed people with nary a wince... Why was Lisa telling Taylor to get a bucket of all things?

Before I knew it, I was down on all fours, crying, emptying my stomach into the bucket Taylor was holding in front of me, Lisa was stroking my head and yes, that felt much nicer. She kept whispering in my ear, "Hey... It's all right... Everything's fine..."

I didn't really know how long I was down like that, but after some time, it simmered down to sobs and dry heaves... I checked my status, it said 'Distressed', yeah right.

I sat up shivering and scanned myself, I was still recovering from shock, I removed the excess adrenalin flowing through me, and let the endorphins stay. The bucket was almost half full, ew, I biomassed and inventoried the puke, then cleansed the bucket. Taylor put it back into her inventory.

It took me another few minutes to stop sobbing, I looked at Taylor, she too had tear tracks, she smiled at me and cleared her throat, "Ahem. Tea. You need tea."

"Yes for once. / Yes." Lisa and Me replied in tandem. Taylor smiled at us again and went back to the table, assembling a tea service from her inventory. That girl was a lifesaver.

Lisa was still stroking my hair, I turned to look at her. Her eye make-up was slightly smudged, but damn she still looked beautiful. She still looked shaken, but her usual smirk was back, "Cleanse first, then kiss."

I complied.

* * *

 _January 28, 2011, Coil's Base - Brockton Bay, 6:09 PM_

"So if I was the one worst affected, why am I the one giving foot massages to you two?" My second cup of tea was cooling because both my hands were busy massaging the two pairs of feet that were propped up on my thighs. Taylor and Lisa were enjoying their beverages and making very unladylike noises. It was Lisa's idea of relaxing for a bit and putting all the madness that had happened behind us. My Massage skill was already at level 7.

"Ahh, do the thing between the toes again. Well, two reasons," Lisa lifted two fingers, "firstly, because without our help it would have taken you much longer to figure out that you can do necromancy from scans," I huffed, she continued, "secondly, we're female."

I couldn't resist the setup. I shifted into an avatar I'd crafted just for kicks, a gorgeous strawberry blonde leggy lass with stunning features crafted out of the various women I'd scanned in the hospital. It had CHA +12, figure out the rest. I was wearing the same skimpy outfit Lisa had used to tease me back in the mall. I gave them my best demure look and replied in a husky voice, "Does that mean I get a massage too now?"

Taylor choked on her tea, Lisa almost dropped her coffee as she gaped at me. I daintily picked up my teacup and sipped away at it with exemplary etiquette.

Taylor looked away and began wiping her mouth with a tissue. Lisa schooled her features and smirked again, "Hot damn! Good try, but we're not male, so nope, you don't get a massage. But guess what I just realized?" I quirked an eyebrow at her, her smugness intensified, "I'm not strictly heterosexual," I paused mid sip, trying my best not to react, she continued, "And neither is Taylor."

Tea sprayed out of my nose. I hurriedly shifted back into my Aveek avatar but still kept coughing, damn you AI! Taylor was blushing and glaring at Lisa.

Lisa shrugged and changed the topic immediately. "By the way Taylor, you were also badly affected. And I know you can't suppress emotions as good as Aveek, how'd you keep your cool so well?"

Taylor smiled, it was not a very nice smile, "I didn't, I shunted my anger and frustration into a couple thousand insects who viciously tore each other apart." Her smile softened, "It helped." She shrugged as both Lisa and I shuddered involuntarily.

"Anyway, enough dilly dallying, Lisa, what do you need for the takeover?" Our moods were lightened enough, I reinstated nominal emotional control.

Lisa sobered up and nodded, "Me and Taylor would be able to do it by tonight." Taylor was already up and setting up the table with spare laptops and phones.

Taylor nodded at her, "I had spoofed the last hour's updates and check-ins between the mercs, Coil and the outside teams. You'll need to take over, you'll be able to handle the night's password changes better. Though I still have no idea what set him off though."

Lisa sighed, "It was the Sigma Charlie, System Compromised. Must have been a monthly check from a remote server. You should check the maintenance logs of the server from this morning. Damn Coil and damn his contingencies."

Taylor grimaced and started accessing logs. "Okay, hopefully there's nothing else we missed. And you'll need to guide me through all the financial bits and bobs."

Lisa smirked, "We have two better people to help with that, call Dev over. I'll get in touch with Number Man, might as well keep my promises."

Taylor was smug, "I called him the moment Noelle was taken care of, gave him a coded summary of what happened and sent him the location of this place. He'd be here in a few minutes. Aveek, you might want to go out and pick him up at the emergency exit? The tunnel has a few confusing branches."

"Yeah, I needed your maps to get in myself, I'll go and get him."

Taylor pressed a few buttons and the hidden door unlocked, I left and headed for the exit through the tunnels.

I didn't have to wait long outside the sewer entrance that served as the mouth of the exit. Dada soon arrived on his motorbike. He parked the bike and approached me, face looking solemn and grievous but I could feel the mirth rolling off him.

"Aveek, bro, I have some bad news."

I gave him a narrow eyed stare, what now?

"Look, the loan I gave you, the first installment is due." He was suddenly kneeling, hands joined in a pleading gesture, "Please don't get mad and burn me to ashes!"

I facepalmed, _"TAAAAYYLOOORRR!"_

 _"What? It was an important part of the report! Besides, It was Lisa who asked me to text and emphasize on it when you went away..."_

I was never going to live that one down was I?


	46. Bioshock 6-4

**Bioshock 6.4**

 _January 28, 2011, Coil's Base - Brockton Bay, 7:47 PM_

"He complimented me!"

"Yes dada, we all heard."

"Tch, you don't get it bro! The Number Man complimented me!"

"And we've been hearing it since the last half hour... Just, get back to work now. We'll celebrate later."

"It's Number Man! The Number Man!"

"Congratulations Dev, now can we get back to work? The transfers won't wait for anybody."

"Nooo Taylor! You just don't get how big this is! The Number Fucking Man thinks my methods are creative!"

"Right on! Dev my man! Wasn't that awesome? You owe me big time for that!"

"Lady Lisa, I swear eternal fealty to you, but do you realize what just happened? The Numb..."

"I get it dada! It's big, huge, humongous, ginormous! Get over it now you big fanboy!"

"But the Num..."

"Oh fuck it! Taylor, please deal with this overgrown child, Lisa, stop egging him on and come over here."

"Fine! Spoilsport!" Lisa rolled her eyes and checked a phone from the desk, she'd just finished jotting down all the passwords and details they were going to need, "Taylor, how long till the bank in LA closes down for the day?"

"12 minutes. Dev, you hear? The Number Man won't be able to help us if we can't make this transfer to the offshore account."

"THE NUMBER MAN! YES! Anything for THE NUMBER MAN!" Dada stopped bouncing around the room and skipped over to the desk. "Muhahahaha! Transfers! Here we come!" He rubbed his hands and picked up the list Lisa had written.

Both Taylor and I heaved long sighs, Lisa chuckled and joined me at the middle of the room, "Finally! Are we going to do it? Are we going to do it now?"

"Yes, we are." I grabbed her chair and made her sit facing me.

Lisa's grin had reached her ears, "Are we going to do it here? With your brother and pseudo-sister watching?" Argh! I realized everyone was still high on post-shock endorphins, but seriously?

Taylor tried and failed to hide her giggle, dada was already busy with a laptop, paying us no heed and humming some random song about transferring millions.

I sighed and nodded, "Yes, Lisa, we're going to do it right here, with Dada, Taylor and thousands of bugs watching us."

She guffawed, "You're such an exhibitionist!"

I shook my head, no use hiding my embarrassment, "Yep, that's me. So, are you ready?"

"I died and got cremated for this, of course I'm ready!"

"N..No need to remind me... Ahem! So, Lisa, I'm quite sure if you watch the process, your power is going to punch your brains out. So you have to keep your eyes closed, and just say 'I accept' when I ask you to."

Dada piped up, "Back in my day they used to say 'I do'"

"Oi! Mind your own transfer!" I yelled at him, then turned back to Lisa.

Her eyes were already closed, "Go on, I'm ready."

I sent out the party invite and started scanning her, I wanted to analyse the process later. The window opened in front of her, I could tell she was dying to open her eyes but she was controlling herself, "Lisa, do you accept?"

"I accept." Nothing happened, I got a prompt saying informed consent was needed. Rob dammit AI! This is not the time to grow a conscience!

I cleared my throat, "Wait, don't open your eyes. Let's try again, Lisa, I'm going to share my power with you, it'll change you in ways you're not aware of, but your ego will remain you. Do you accept?"

She took a deep breath, then smirked, "I do." Dada chuckled.

Blue flash, Lisa slumped into the chair, I got a slew of messages.

 **Party member Added, one more not-so-innocent corrupted by you!**

 **Attention: Party slots full, next slot opens up at Lvl. 30.**

* * *

 **Quest completed: Smite the Snake!**

 **Coil has been dealt with, his infrastructure usurped. Lisa is free and added!**

 **Success:**

 **1.5M XP/3**

 **Hidden Objective: Disable ALL of his failsafes and deadman switches before confronting Coil.**

 **Failure:**

 **Trouble.**

* * *

 **Level Up! You've reached Lvl. 22!**

 **Level Up! You've reached Lvl. 23!**

 **Level Up! You've reached Lvl. 24!**

 **Level Up! You've reached Lvl. 25!**

 **Level Up! You've reached Lvl. 26!**

"Whoa!" That was Taylor, must've gotten the alerts too. I quickly pushed one point to my INT and regained Telekinesis.

There were also a whole line of windows of those alerts in front of Lisa, she'd also gotten a ton of levels because of the shared XP from the quest. She opened her eyes, took one glance at the windows in front of her, and fell down to the floor laughing.

"What? Why're you laughing?!"

"Bwahahahahahaha! Video Games! The most ridiculously bullshit power in the world is video game themed! Hahahahahaa!"

"Oh shove it!" I huffed.

"Bahahahaha! It actually annoys you that your power is a bigger nerd than you! Pffahahaha!" She was literally rolling on the floor.

"That's what I said!" Dada joined in with a guffaw! Taylor just rolled her eyes.

"Ha! Such refined humour! You guys done with the transfers?"

Dada gave me a thumbs up, "Done for the day, some smaller transactions to be carried out in the next few days, don't worry, I'll take care of it."

I smirked, "So, you're fully our cash-cow minion now?"

Dada made grave face, stood up solemnly and spoke in a booming voice, "I am the hidden hand behind Fortress! I am the profits that are made in the dark! I am Vengeance! I am the night! I am... Bankerman!"

Taylor and Lisa groaned in unison, I gave him my best blank stare, "Lame, dada. Extremely lame."

"Kids these days, don't have any appreciation for the classics. Anyway, I'm off to get a drink with Danny, he didn't know the details, but he could smell something was brewing the last few days. He'll appreciate the news. Taylor, be a dear and light up a path for me through the tunnels?" Dada headed for the door.

Taylor smiled and nodded at him, then tapped her keyboard, the exit opened up, firefly arrows already visible behind it. As dada left, I heard him murmur, "The Number Ma..." I shook my head, it'd take at least a few days to get him out of it. Meanwhile Lisa had managed to sober up and was closing the windows in front of her one by one, muttering to herself. I heard snatches of it.

"Windows illusionary? Yes, but all party members see them... The messages will become purely mental when power matures... Power is affecting my mind? No, interfacing with my mind... changed my body? Changed to a different kind of matter?... Fueled by energy from Aveek... Energy source is beyond our universe, energy source is beyond parallel universes... Not the same as the source of parahuman powers... How come I'm getting answers now? Why don't I have a headache? Answers not coming from my parahuman power.. Answers coming from the Akashic Records, huh? what the fuck is the Akashic Records?!"

That assuaged a lot of my worries. But raised a few interesting questions. Before I could ask any, she finished closing the windows, then turned to look above Taylor's head and raised an eyebrow, "So, Queen of Escalation eh?"

What? where did she get that from? Did her gamer-ified power tell her that? But she glanced above Taylor's head... Was it possible?

"Lisa! Do you see the blue tags?"

"Yes? Was I not supposed to?"

"I don't see them!" Taylor's eyes were wide, "Aveek, check if she can use Mana!"

"Lisa! Check your action skills!"

"What? What's mana? Oh! The blue thing! How do I check? Wait, don't tell me! Skills!" She started tapping open her action skills from the window, Taylor came over and we both peered at her skill windows.

* * *

 **The Gamer's Mind: (Passive) Lvl. 3 - 34.3%**

 **Your brain is part of a mana hypercomputer:**

 **Allows you to interact with the Gamer System.**

 **More benefits at higher levels.**

* * *

 **The Gamer's Body: (Passive) Lvl. 1 - 6.2%**

 **Your body is a persistent mana construct:**

 **Gives your body regenerating HP and lets you grow with status points.**

 **More benefits at higher levels.**

* * *

 **Pericognition:(Parasite Power) Lvl. 2 - 15.6%**

 **Ask and ye shall recieve:**

 **Lets you deduce huge amounts of information from minimal cues.**

 **Subskill: Query Inputs Lvl. 1 - 0.1%**

 **Current input specificity: Any sensory input.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with input complexity.**

 **Subskill: Query Precision Lvl. 1 - 0.1%**

 **Current precision: Any curious thought.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with query complexity.**

 **Subskill: Intuitive Range Lvl. 20 - 14.3%**

 **Lets you make bigger intuitive leaps the higher the level.**

 **SP Cost: increasing with intuition range.**

* * *

 **Analyze: (Synergistic Power) (Passive) Lvl. MAX - 0.0%**

 **Like Observe, but better:**

 **The high synergy of Pericognition's nature with the Akashic Records has allowed the AI to give you limited access.**

 **Gives extra information for pericognitive queries with gamer aspects, often includes extraUniversal knowledge.**

* * *

Ah, so not mana, but it was still quite interesting. Lisa looked at us in turn and narrowed her eyes, I could almost see her mental gears spinning, her eyes lit up "Hey! I can see your power descriptions when I focus on it! And those are... character build points, right? Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and... Charisma! Wow! That answers so many questions! Wow!" Lisa turned to me, "How do I see my, what do you call it? Character window?"

"It's called status."

"Status." Her status window opened, it was pretty much the same as before, except for a few lines added to her description summarizing the latest events and the fact that she'd gotten 120 stat points to distribute for the level gains from the quest reward, she was Level 24 now. "Damn right I'm the smartest in the room... SP dips everytime I use power... No answers if insufficient SP, no more headaches, fuck you power parasites!... Hmm, I was always a nimble child, should've tried the ballet more seriously..." She was muttering again as she glanced through the data, smirked at the description (it said she died but got better), frowned at the parasite shard thing, then her eyes found the new window that had automatically opened below it.

Knowing what was coming, I started scanning her again.

"Hell yes I want to spend the points!" She jabbed at the button that asked if she wanted to get rid of the parasite influence. "Wow! It was like an itch I never knew I had! And it's gone now! Foof!" She sighed with relief.

Taylor nodded at her, "I know right? It was this constant jittery feeling for me. Though I only had to live with it for a day."

"I get exactly what you mean, just imagine, all the capes have to live with this." Lisa turned to me, "Aveek, is there a way for you to rid others of their influence? You just scanned me right?"

I shook my head, "Not without adding them, yet. I'll have to check out the scan and experiment later."

Lisa nodded, "I'm sure Amy can help. She can decode brains and coronas, which you can't yet."

"That's actually a good suggestion, I'm still afraid I'll spook her with some idea or the other, let's see."

Lisa nodded, "Anyway, all these other skills, why're they greyed out? Hmm, Martial Arts..." She tapped the box, the learning prompt came up, "Of course I want to learn!"

"Lisa, wait!" I tried to stop her, but she tapped accept anyway, her eyes rolled up inside her head, she swooned, what's with these girls and impatience?

I sighed and gave Taylor a 'this is what happens' look, she shrugged, then pointed at Lisa, I turned and looked, hardly 10 seconds had passed, and she was already getting up? How come everyone learns skills faster than me?!

She stood up straight and looked me square in the eyes, "I know Kung fu."

I suppressed my spark of unbridled glee and smirked at her, "Show me." I grabbed her and dropped us into an ID.

We emerged in a beautifully decorated dojo...

...What?

 **The skill: Instant Dimension, has reached level 30.**

 **New ID type unlocked: Holodeck ID**

 **Lets you program environments and scenarios.**

* * *

A/N: Okay so there's a google sheet where I've been maintaining the stats for everyone, do you guys want me to post the stats every chapter? or at the end of every arc? or whenever there's significant change? Or do you just want access to the sheet?


	47. Bioshock 6-5

**Bioshock 6.5**

 _January 28, 2011, Holodeck ID, 9:31 PM_

 _[Embarrassed]"Guys, I really don't want to interrupt, but the mercs are going to start waking up soon."_

 _[Eyeroll]"Yes Mom. We're not doing anything! Wait, let me come out and I'll tell you about this new ID mode that was unlocked."_ I messaged Taylor back. Our spar had finished a while back, Lisa's power-enhanced perceptions added to her high DEX score to give her almost preternatural reflexes. It was very hard for me to land a hit on her while unboosted. After the spar I'd started fiddling with the holodeck settings while Lisa had sat down to meditate and was absorbing skills like a sponge. She'd also gotten Taylor's message.

For now the holodeck only accepted memories as input, I figured the options would broaden as I leveled it up. Lisa got up, looked around and smiled, I was currently using the memory of the boardwalk cafe where we first met. Unlike the blank IDs the environment was fully immersive and not gray-tinged at all, it also cost 3000MP to instantiate. Lisa ambled over, gave me a peck on the cheek and grabbed my hand, "Back to work then. Let's not keep the henchmen waiting." I nodded and took us out. Seems that when you dismissed the holodeck, you'd always arrive where you entered from.

* * *

 _January 29, 2011, Coil's Base - Brockton Bay, 2:23 AM_

"So my contract remains unaltered?"

"Certainly, Miss Xhao. I hope you have no problems with your skills being used in less violent methods?" Swarm's buzz replied, eight eyes glowing.

"No problems at all, while active combat is exciting, I do prefer more subtle tasks. As long as the contract is unchanged, you're the boss."

"Excellent. Looking forward to working with you, feel free to retire to your quarters."

Miss Xhao, Lvl. 23 infiltration _and_ enforcement specialist, good with blades, bullets, and words, too proud and honourable to join the ABB, wanted in 3 states for fraud and assault - hid her emotions well, but it was clear as she nodded and left that she was both interested in what new jobs she'd get and extremely relieved to get away from the woman who was a glowing mass of bugs.

We'd already gathered a substantial background on Coil's mercs from his servers, my observe results and Lisa's deductions. There were 41 men and 8 women in total, most of them were thorough professionals. A surprising number of them in fact had never committed any violent crimes outside of jobs! We interviewed 33 mercs one by one, waking them up in restrains, letting Swarm do the talking while Lisa and I watched them through holes from the ID. Swarm told them that Coil had 'taken an indefinite leave of absence' and she was currently in control of his infrastructure. They were offered the option to stay or leave.

26 chose to stay on. 3 politely asked to be let go and mentioned that they'll honour their contracts (Of course Coil had them sign ironclad contracts with non-disclosure clauses!). The remaining 2 also asked to be let go, but Lisa told me they'll try to turn on us. So while the former three were allowed to leave, the latter two joined the inventoried biomass of the 16 mercs we never interviewed.

12 of these 16 (Which included Lisa's ex tails) would be dropped off at the BPPD HQ nicely tied up with a list of crimes they were suspect for in various states, the nature of said crimes being quite distasteful to us. And the last four... Well, they were shit-stains in the collective picture of humanity, they were never coming back. Funny how having the option to revive these people made erasing their existence so easy on the conscience.

 _"That was the last of the mercs. Head over to the dorm where the Travellers are. They've had enough time to recover. Might as well finish debriefing them too."_ Taylor messaged us. I closed the peepholes in the ID and started walking with Lisa towards the dorm.

As we neared the door, I opened a hole, created another Maker clone, who was wearing the last of my two spare undersuits. Then Lisa and ID/I went into the dorm, found a corner which would give us a good view and opened peepholes. As we settled in to watch, I swapped primaries with the body outside the gate and equipped my armour, half face version.

"Damn, does the first aid box here have some rubbing alcohol or something, these stings are prickly!" Oops, I'd forgotten to heal Ballistic's bug bites. I knocked on the door.

Trickster removed his hand from Noelle's waist, "We should mask up." They were sitting in the beds of the dorm.

Noelle frowned at him, grabbed his hand and put it back around her waist, "You were the one to tell me that Swarm had an eye on us for days and you want to mask up now?"

Trickster gave her a sheepish smile, "Yeah, I'm just still... You know."

"Still trying to save the undying shoggoth?" That was Sundancer, she seemed upset.

"Hey! I said I'm sorry!"

Genesis sighed, "Um, guys, there's still someone outside?"

Oliver shook his head, "Come in please!"

I entered the dorm, Swarm formed beside me. As agreed, she was going to be the spokesperson, I had to admit that talking to her kept people unbalanced much more than talking to me, "Travellers, I hope this is a good time to talk?"

There were scattered nods and affirmative noises, Trickster stood up. "Swarm, Maker. Firstly, thank you for healing Noelle, whatever we can do for you in return, anything you ask, it's yours." The others nodded, but they seemed a bit miffed at him promising that on their behalf, he continued, "Secondly, I'm extremely sorry to have posed a problem in your way of destroying Noelle's power. I don't know what came over me..." He seemed shaken.

"That's alright Mr. Krouse," I interrupted, "that wasn't your fault, the Simurgh did it!" I just wanted to say that phrase once and have it be truth.

"WHAT?!" Trickster's outburst was accompanied with collective gasps. "Is she still..." His hand unconsciously touched his head.

Swarm shook her head, "No. The influence has been negated. It was done back in Madison, an obsessive attitude towards assisting Noelle's monstrous part. It had sat behind the guise of your general protectiveness of her." How'd she know that? Oh, Lisa must have messaged her. Back in the ID, Lisa nodded at me.

Trickster sat down in shock, the others were gaping at us, possibly because we just revealed we knew about their background. I chose another distraction, "By the way, who needs healing here?"

Ballistic jumped up, "Me! These bites are itchy!"

"Luke!" Sundancer was glaring at him.

He immediately quailed and glanced at Genesis, "Sorry, her please."

I nodded and walked towards Sundancer, on my way I poked Ballistic's arm and healed him anyway. His face broke into a grin, "Whoaa! I feel awesome! Thanks man!" (As per habit I'd added a _Cleanse_ , _Scan_ and _Refresh_ to it.) he stole a glance at Sundancer, who was still glaring at him, "Shutting up now." He retreated back to the bed he was sitting on.

I extended a hand towards Genesis, "Jess, right? May I?"

"Yes... Yes please." She nodded shakily and gave me her hand, I'd already healed paralysis once in the hospital, this should work, I kept a running scan and applied the heal package. Blue flash, Genesis looked startled, her legs started twitching immediately, I continued, "Not done yet." There was a lot of leg muscle atrophy, I Fleshcrafted them manually to give them a good musculature matching her upper body. It took about 20 seconds, "There, now slowly and carefully, try to stand."

She stood up shakily from the wheelchair, I let her hands go and stepped back, tears were welling up in her eyes. Sundancer walked up to her and engulfed her in a hug.

Swarm picked up the pitch again, "Guys, for all the healing, we have one thing to ask of you." She had everyone's attention. That was such an excellent hook, the kids grow up so fast. Back in the ID I wiped a metaphorical tear from my eye, Lisa smirked and patted my shoulder.

"Y-yes?" That was Oliver, I guess amongst the others he was the least invested in whatever he expected to be signed up without consent for.

Swarm spoke again, "Whatever we decide today, whether you choose to leave or stay, just promise to avoid damage to civilians and property."

...

Ballistic snorted, "Oh c'mon! That can't be it!"

"It isn't. That is only what we ask above everything else. Our goal is to expand, make profits, gain influence, but above all, we want to help people. We're gearing up to fight some enemies which are worse than the Endbringers. Enemies which pose danger not just to Earth Bet. We're assembling a team..."

"We're in." Noelle was standing.

Trickster looked a bit cross, "Wait, you can't decide that before..."

Noelle interrupted him, "Krouse, before I was a crippled monster, I was the leader of this team. As of now I'm relieving you of command."

 _"Damn I like this girl!"_ Lisa messaged me.

Trickster was sputtering, "But... You don't even have any powers!"

"He's so gonna get the couch." Oliver piped in.

Ballistic grimly nodded, "Krouse, I'm not saying you've led us badly, but I'm far more comfortable taking orders from someone who I know to be an excellent strategic commander. Tentatively, I'm in."

Sundancer stepped forward, "I have some other things to talk about, but I'm more than glad to have Noelle back as commander, and especially because she doesn't have powers to worry about." Genesis just nodded, she was too busy hopping on each foot in turn with her hand on Sundancer's shoulder.

Trickster deflated, "I never said I have any problems with Noelle taking command... I... I'm in." He looked hopefully at Noelle and visibly flinched at her disappointed stare.

Noelle cleared her throat and addressed us, "Swarm, Maker. You have _my_ sincere thanks too for getting me out of that hell and dealing with a lot of trouble for it. I do realize that it was possibly just a side-quest in your goal to get Coil. Also, I heard about your friend, I'm sorry for your loss. What you asked of us, it's an ideal we definitely can get behind. As for enemies beyond Endbringers..." She frowned, "I honestly just want to call you out on your bullshit, but for the life of me I can't figure out the motive for such bullshit. And whatever little contact I've had with both of you makes me believe that ascribing your offer to a mix of naivete and wild conspiracy theories would be an insult to your intelligence. So yes, I'd expect more clarification later, but as of now, you have us as allies."

 _"Wow, I know what you mean! The Politics runs strong in this one!"_ I replied to Lisa's previous statement.

Swarm nodded, "Excellent, so, continuing what I was saying. We'll probably find a way to send you to Aleph sometime. Then Noelle can take command of our operations there too."

The stunned silence was only penetrated by the mild buzz emanating from Swarm's body.

* * *

 _January 29, 2011, Holodeck, 7:15 PM_

Lisa was sitting between me and Taylor, shivering in shock, she'd asked us to share the memories we had, starting from eavesdropping on the kill order from Coil - till her resurrection. We were in the bedroom of an ultra luxury suite whose memory Lisa had supplied us with to instantiate the Holodeck.

"Shit. I feel terrible." Yeah, she'd upped Gamer's mind to Lvl. 14 already. She'd feel all the emotions associated with the memories too. Well, it was her request to begin with. She'd already gotten a debrief from miss Xhao, who'd posed as a bystander to keep an eye on the Casino hit. After that Lisa had perused the recordings from the listening devices that Coil had planted in the Undersiders' loft. The only gap in her memory left was what happened after she went back to her apartment.

I could feel the distress and horror rolling off her. "How can I help?"

Lisa looked at me... Then smiled, Taylor suddenly stood bolt upright, "Oh, I forgot I need to make dinner for dad. Aveek, can you let me out?" Her face was flushed.

Huh, that was sudden... I made a hole big enough for her to leave, damn that took a lot of mana. Taylor looked at me and smirked before leaving. After I closed the hole, still confused as to what made her bolt, I got a message from her:

 _[amusement, embarrassment]"I hope you have stocked your inventory with proper protection..."_

* * *

A/N: So yeah, the stats are maintained at (remove the space after bit) bit. ly/2mHblWD

Will also update stat chapters after each major arc. That won the majority vote.


	48. Bioshock 6-6

**Bioshock 6.6**

 _February 1, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 9:16 PM_

"Done! All done! Muhahaha!" Dada was standing in front of us in a weird way... Oh, he was trying to strike a pose. Considering his audience was Taylor, Lisa and me sitting in the couch, It wasn't very effective.

"Eh, it needed a few more 'ha'-s to sound properly evil and maniacal. He needs more practice." I commented sotto voce.

"Meh, everyone's a critic. Don't forget you're talking to a multimillionaire entrepreneur, I'm by definition evil and maniacal!"

Lisa snorted, "Ah, yes, the mysterious BankerMan, so, does that mean we're millionaires too?"

"In liquid cash, no. All of you are minors. It'd draw a lot of eyes if itsy bitsy teenie weenies like you suddenly get that kind of a cash influx. Whereas I'm the recently promoted CFO of Fortress, no one would even blink if a few offshore accounts remotely connected to me get a few hundred mil in transfers, the bureaucracy is trained to overlook these..." Dada nodded in an 'I know something you don't' way, "But Assets! Properties! Stocks! If someone manages to wade through the morass of shell corporations and trusts, they'll find you guys rolling in riches."

We tried snooty backpats and nods at each other, but we generally failed and ended up cheering.

But dada wasn't finished, his eyes were sparkling, "Now, my ragtag bunch of Richie Riches... You have access to a lot of money... What's the next step?"

"Invest!/Invest it!/Investments!" The three of us piped up in unison.

Dada smiled and wiped a metaphorical tear, "The kids grow up so fast... Anyway, Aveek! I'm still waiting for the tech plans you were talking about." I waved my hands in a placative way, they'll come when they come.

Dada gave me a disappointed glare and pointed at Lisa, "Lisa! I've already dropped a good sum in the bonds you marked out, you've got a decent eye." Coming from Dev SenGupta, that was high praise. Lisa's grin reached new levels of smug.

Finally, Dada pointed at Taylor, "And Taylor! You're a creepy bug monster!" Taylor giggled.

He clapped his hands, "Excellent! Think of more investment avenues and let me know. Next up, you need to set up alternate trickle incomes, it's a good practice, also helps legitimize the odd zero being displaced in your bank balance. So Taylor, I've already gotten your carbon-enhanced spidersilk tested anonymously, it's roughly 15 times stronger than Kevlar _and_ reasonably stretchy, it's gonna be a huge hit. But I've refrained from sending out feelers for buyers because you asked me to wait." Taylor nodded.

Dada moved on to me again, "Aveek, contacts who have contacts who have contacts who have expressed interest in Maker's services as a materials tinker. I've already started making a list of what is being asked for. I need to know what is your current production capacity before I start accepting orders. Also, I'm against accepting orders for radioactive stuff, right?"

I shrugged, "Unless it's the Defense Ministry asking. And keeping my other activities mostly unharmed, my production capacity is currently about half KG per day."

"It's called the Department of Defense, and you mean about a pound of mass per day." Taylor huffed in annoyance.

Dada shrugged, "Well, I understood that."

"No, no. It's a matter of principle." Lisa shook her head and smiled, "When in America," she looked at me and her smile turned predatory, "do the American."

Yeah, my blush was probably visible even through my brown skin. Dada cheered, "That's my sister-in-law!" Arg! Not again with this... He lifted a pre-emptive finger at Lisa, "And little miss inept blackmailer, you've lost your leverage! Number Man and I are professional BFFs now!"

Dammit, dada you have no idea who you're poking at... Lisa's predatory smile never faltered, "My my... I should've remembered that. I should also remember who has set up a fresh online dating pro..."

"My Lady Lisa! Did anyone tell you how amazing and awesome and generous and forgiving you are?" Dada was frantically waving his hands.

"Hmph, not in a while, and see to it that you don't abuse it." Lisa sniffed in mock condescension, dada was nodding frantically as she continued, "Anyway, back to the topic, what about my trickle income?"

"Well, you already have a budding online reputation as an information broker, I don't think you need my help solidifying that." Dada shrugged, "By the way, your new fake ID has come through, as have the ones you requested for the Travellers."

"Good." Lisa nodded, "They'd do well to get out and have some normalcy. I'll have it sent to them with compliments from Swarm."

Dada smiled, "That's a nice move. Keeping the incorporeal cape as your official spokesperson. Anyway, dealing with you kids is strenuous." He turned towards the kitchen and hollered, "Hey! Clone bro! Dinner ready yet?"

Maker/I hollered back from the kitchen, "In a few moments, someone call Mr. Hebert over please?"

Taylor nodded, "I've called him."

Danny arrived in a minute as I was setting the table, dada let him in. He was looking slightly flustered as he looked at the girls on the couch, "Hello there kiddos. Taylor, sweetie, please give me a warning before you buzz words in my ear, I almost stabbed through the forms I was signing."

"Sorry dad." Taylor smiled in embarrassment.

"No worries. Anyway, heard you guys were leaving tonight for your field trip? Where to?"

"The Amazonian Rainforests, Taylor wants more bugs, and I need mover training." Lisa chipped in resignedly. For someone so good at combat, she was unusually averse to physical exertion, oh well, she needed to train her physicals up to scratch before she could spend her stat points.

"Ah. I've no doubts you'd do well." Danny patted Lisa's shoulder as they all moved to the dining table, Lisa's smile at that was one of the most genuine I'd ever seen.

Danny spotted me at the table, "Aveek! Dev said you'll be cooking for us while Taylor is away, aren't you going too?"

"I am, Sir. I'll also be staying here."

"Oh, clones, right, it's a bit creepy if one thinks of it..." Ha! Look whose father is talking! "Anyway, I'm more than glad to be in your care for the duration. I really didn't want to cook just for myself without Taylor here. And I'm sure you'd definitely cook much better than me or her."

"Hey!" Taylor shouted with mock indignation.

Danny was nonplussed, "What? Look at the boy! He's smart, good looking, and a gamer! Honestly, if I didn't know otherwise, I'd be rooting for you and him!"

"Daaaad!"

Lisa possessively grabbed my arm, "Mine!"

Danny laughed and ruffled Lisa's hair, "Without a doubt kid. Without a doubt."

Lisa grinned bashfully. She had very few interactions with Danny, but it was strange to see how childishly she behaved around him. Oh well, he had an unassuming aura of parentness that I couldn't help but respect.

Apart from one visit to the Undersiders, Lisa had spent most of her time finishing learning all the skills we had in the list. What could I say? She was a completionist! The rest of the time she spent between my house with me (or... ahem, holodecks, at times) or out doing girl things with Taylor and Victoria. I'd taken the time to go on one more hospital grind with Amy, where she'd asked me to make time for another session. That was an interesting conversation.

 _I climbed up on the roof of the hospital where Amy was smoking a cigarette, she was going to drop it when she heard my footsteps, but smiled and resumed when she saw it was me, "Hey there Maker, good work today. You've improved a lot."_

 _"Thanks Sensei," I smiled, "Vicky being late?"_

 _"Nah, I'll call her once I finish the smoke. She's on patrol nearby anyway. By the way, I was at the PRT HQ a few days ago, they'd been asking around about you. Gallant, who's a friend of Glory Girl had also asked her about you."_

 _I nodded, "Okay, what did you tell them?"_

 _"Well, I've told them that I've been in contact with you and have been teaching you biology to help with your healing tech. I've told them you're a tinker. And that's about it, so they know about as much as the hospital knows. I've already instructed Vicky to divulge only as much."_

 _"That's thoughtful of you, to keep the privacy of my information."_

 _"Well, you learn at least that much when you're a healer. Private information is sensitive, and it goes doubly for capes. Anyway, the PRT has asked me to tell you to consider going over and registering with them."_

 _"Thank you, for the privacy I mean. And if they ask you again, tell them I've received the message and will consider it with sincerity."_

 _She nodded, "Okay. You might as well just do it. The registration part is pretty non-invasive, they don't ask much that you don't want to divulge." She looked thoughtful, "But on the other hand. You're a tinker. They're very particular about tinkers. I myself had registered as a healer instead of a... a bio-tinker" she almost winced at the word, "because of how much it would raise their hackles. I guess I'll have to change that if I start offering them the upgrades." She seemed conflicted, "Anyway, I'll deal with it when the time comes. As of now I'm still good with the healer angle even with the retroviral treatment pills thingy. Is it the same reason you're reluctant to go to them? Or is it because you're a follower of Aveek's philosophy of heroes and villains being loudmouthed showoffs?"_

 _I chuckled, "That's a way to put it. Well, that's not the only reason, I do understand why heroes and villains do it. But I have better goals and plans. Regardless, Swarm and I will register, we had some business to take care, it's halfway done. As soon as the preparations are ready, we'll have to go public anyway, so I'm just waiting for it."_

 _Amy nodded, "Sounds good. So, um... Can we have another session? After a week or so? If you're free that is. I want to check on my mods and add some new tweaks and stuff."_

 _"Hmm. Let me check my calendar." I made a show of projecting random sheets of info in front of me, "Let's see... Nothing, nothing, nothing, oh, also nothing. Well Panacea, I guess I have to choose between my extremely busy schedule of doing nothing or to have a session where I get to learn new stuff... Tough call."_

 _Amy chuckled, "Right! If you manage to take the decision in my favour. I want to invite you to my place for the session. And Taylor, Aveek and Lisa too if they agree?"_

 _"Sure, any particular purpose of the change of venue?"_

 _"What? Can't I invite friends over?" There was mock hurt on her face but real nervousness._

 _"Of course you can Amy, well, I for one would be glad to come. You should call and check with the others... But before you do. I'm asking as a friend, is something up?"_

 _She looked both relieved and guilty, "No..not particularly... Well, you see, Caro-I mean Mom might have seen me sparring with Vicky, and maybe gotten a little suspicious? I wanted to come clean to her about the upgrade thing? So... The story is incomplete without you guys? Argh! Dammit! I want you guys for moral support!"_

 _I smiled, "See? That was probably a bit difficult for you to admit. But good communication makes for a very good friendship-glue. Though I'm sure the others will agree, you should just call and check with them."_

She'd called Taylor, Aveek and Lisa individually and asked for moral support in clear words, that must've taken guts.

Dinner was good. Danny left, Taylor and I went for a quick patrol to remind the goons in the area that we existed. Then we picked up Lisa, went into an ID and started running south.

* * *

 _February 7, 2011, Rainforests - Brazil, 8:22 PM_

"Are you sure you want to put that many points in Dexterity?"

"Trust me, it's a good match for me. Being quick is what I'm all about."

Lisa's training was officially done, Physicals all above 25 (Except for DEX, which gained only 3 points from its already impressive 31), a slight increase in her base INT, +4 WIS and a charisma of 19 - well, I wasn't complaining when she'd become ridiculously hot! Anyway, she leveled up Gamer's Body to omit the need to sleep, and upped Gamer's Mind enough to get mental controls, emotion spike suppression and finally her Anonymity Protocols a few hours back. The last one marked the official goal.

Lisa continued explaining, "Besides, I only decided on DEX after pushing my base INT and WIS to 50. And I AM the thinker, so trust me."

Though it was her best base stat - when we had started on our way here from the Bay, Lisa was the slowest of us in pure movement speed, by the time we reached this forest, she was faster than both of us, I had to apply a mild boost to keep up with her just because of her high base DEX. Still, she was not a frontline combatant, what would she do with more agility and speed? I nodded somewhat noncommittally.

Lisa rolled her eyes and dropped 66 points in her DEX, that left her only 3 statpoints in store. "Wow" She was beaming.

"What? Show us?" Taylor asked.

Lisa forwarded an AI prompt.

 **For raising your INT to 150 and DEX to 100, you've unlocked a hidden skill!**

 **Skill Unlocked: Hyperfocus  
** **Lets you overclock your mind to speeds comparable to your body.  
** **Faster ratios on higher levels.**

"I concede. You ARE the thinker." That was all I could say. I checked the skill in my list, yep, those were the minimum requirements, at Lvl.1 it allowed her to up her mental speed to 2X for a measly deduction of 100SP from her pool. I knew how valuable that effect could be, when I was in full boost I felt a somewhat similar effect, but It still required a considerable amount of focus to operate the body at those speeds.

"Hehehehehe! Thisissoawesome!" Aaand Lisa had joined the fast-forward brigade... Well, technically we all were members because I'd applied some basic mods from Panacea's initial package to all of us, so we all had STR +12, DEX +15, VIT+16 and INT +4 modifiers. But at 2X mental speed Lisa was still doubly fast. I was still wary about applying anything from Amy's advanced mods because firstly I still didn't understand all of them completely and secondly they were highly customised for herself, I'd need to consult her before trying to fit them generically.

Taylor was still gaping at her, "Wow, I know I don't really need it due to my massive parallel processing thing... but damn I want that so bad!"

I shrugged, "You have a lot of spare points too. You can go the same way."

Taylor shook her head, "Nope. I know what I want. I'm going for a WIS build. And I'm going for it right now because I'm jealous."

Well, that was sensible of her, as our team tactician that was indeed the best choice for her. Taylor intentionally shifted to visual mode before applying the points, she pushed her WIS to 100. Then looked on in anticipation as nothing happened. She frowned.

Lisa smirked, "Taylor, put some in intelligence too."

She complied and dropped some of her remaining points to push INT to 50. And there it was.

 **For raising your INT to 50 and WIS to 100, you've unlocked a hidden skill!**

 **Skill Unlocked: Sense Danger (Passive)  
** **Provides you a warning when you're about to be attacked.  
** **Combined with Administration Sensing, it extends the effect to your thralls and your party members when they're in range.  
** **More information on the nature of attack and earlier warnings on higher levels.**

"YES!" Taylor fistpumped and then glomped Lisa.

"Celebratory Spar!" I shouted, went full boost and attacked them.

We had been doing a lot of training of our own too, exercising with fallen logs and practising tree jumping allowed Taylor and me to squeeze a few more points in the physicals, I'd gotten tons of new organism scans. I didn't need to add to my biomass reserves after the 3 tons of it gained from Noelle.

I'd been heavily training Constructs, the hardest of my skills to level, yet the most effective one, Projection Range was up to 5m (or 16 ft, as Taylor would say) and Complexity was down to 1nm (no idea how Taylor would imperialize that.) Construct Persistence was up to 30 seconds and overall the skill was at Lvl. 49, I had a hunch something good would happen when it reached Lvl. 50, I was looking forward to it.

We'd also had a few sessions in IDs bashing Lvl. 30 mooks (They were all SWAT teams and Special Ops forces with artillery support), we got a considerable amount of XP. But it added only one level to Lisa and none to Taylor and me.

Taylor's personal training had improved her range to around 5Km (3 miles, she'd argue) and the delayed command aspect had improved so much that she was able to create a sustainable ecosystem of noninvasive harmless insects around a tribal village we passed by, the one where she'd picked up tons of bullet ants. She had appeared to them and explained to them that the new insects were harmless and will protect them from the harmful ones, she also pointed them to a nearby patch of forest where they could pick up the bullet ants they used for their coming of age rituals.

The Satere-Mawe people of that particular area worship a new insect goddess nowadays.

Speaking of bullet ants, we tried them, I'd gotten used to momentary pain but _that_ was on a different level altogether. The venom remained so the pain didn't go away even if the damage was healed, it gave us a poisoned status which drained a negligible amount of HP but oh god the pain! I quit and healed myself after 20 minutes, Lisa quit in less than half an hour, Taylor endured it for the whole hour that the status effect lasted... Damn that girl had some crazy tolerance!

She had another stroke of luck, one of the cities we passed had a university research lab with a full terrarium of Darwin's Bark spiders, I scanned and duplicated the 350 odd spiders a few times to give her a respectable batch of web weavers. We'd have dada test the cloth from their silk when we get back.

We also sparred amongst ourselves. Lisa was as usual hard to hit without boosting, as was Taylor when she was using her insects to map my movements. But this celebratory spar took it to ridiculous levels.

I couldn't land a single hit on Lisa even in full boost, and she pummelled me constantly, all of us had raised our Kinetic Resistance enough that even when unarmored, most hits didn't do too much damage, but even at that speed she managed to rain calculated hits to cause specific debilitation, it was humbling.

At least with Lisa I still could understand how fast she was reacting to my attacks. With Taylor it was much weirder, she seemed to perform some weird jerky dance which avoided all my attacks magically. Thankfully her offence wasn't overwhelming like Lisa.

Of course I had the upper hand when I brought Telekinesis into play, Taylor was still hard to hit but I could box her in with combos that didn't leave space to dodge. As for Lisa, I got my revenge on her good and proper, however fast and perceptive she was - she couldn't dodge what she couldn't see. As long as I kept my attack pattern random enough, I ruled that round.

Then the girls ganged up on me. Taylor started to share her danger sense warnings mentally with Lisa... Taylor blanketed the area with a swarm that both distracted me and detected my telekinetic swipes before they hit either of them. Well, I was basically curbstomped... I finally cheated out a win by pushing loads of mana into omnidirectional, overwhelming force blasts, followed up with taser bolts.

"That's outright cheating! The fights started with pure physical force... Not fair!" Taylor whined.

"Well... Life's not fair." Yeah, that was extremely mature of me.

Lisa got up and dusted herself. "Admit it. You're just a sore loser." Taylor had made her a skinsuit from carbon fibre enhanced Darwin's Bark Silk... Yeah, if I weren't using Gamer's mind during the spar I'd have lost due to being distracted right at the beginning when she equipped it.

I went ahead and cleansed the both of them. "Not a sore loser, you see, I won." Yep, unfair and round, but I won.

Lisa patted my head patronisingly, "Sure you did honey. Just like that time when you burned me to ashes."

I huffed and changed the topic, "Anyway, listen, the ID skill levelled up yesterday, max level of mooks have gone up to level 40. What say we try it out?"

Lisa was checking her phone, her mood suddenly changed, "No can't do. Miss Xhao sent us an update. ABB goons were spotted in the area around the Undersiders' loft today. Huh, that was faster than expected... They'll be hitting us tonight."

Taylor shrugged, "As it stands now, you can probably handle them yourself. Buut..."

Lisa completed her sentence, "The plan says otherwise. Besides, I believe both Lung and Oni lee are going to participate personally. They'll be leading two separate teams targeting the loft and the decoy warehouse. You guys stick to the plan for Lung. I'll take the Undersiders and deal with Lee first." She turned to me, slightly nervous, "Aveek. You're absolutely sure about the plan for Lung?"

I nodded firmly, "Yes yes, I promise not to let it escalate beyond control. How much time do we have?"

Lisa thought for a moment, "About three hours. Too bad there's no time to run back." She didn't sound disappointed at all.

I chuckled and held out my hand, "Ladies, pack your bags and prepare for fast travel."

We really didn't have anything to pack, we'd been living out of our inventories and holodecks anyway. The girls shrugged and put their hands on mine.

I scanned them, biomassed and inventoried them and their clothes, then changed into my throwaway avatar (an emaciated nondescript old man with enough diseases to die in minutes without gamer abilities), then swapped primary with me at home and disconnected the clone.

As Taylor and Lisa found themselves suddenly transported to my bedroom in Brockton Bay, a comatose old man died of natural causes in the middle of the amazonian rainforest.


	49. Cutscenes 7-0 Lisa

A/N: If you're confused about the last update, the Lung Fight was updated as the 1st chapter. Go check it out if you didn't know.

* * *

 **Cutscenes 7.0 - Lisa**

 _January 30, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 5:16 PM_

Lisa mused about the last two days as she cycled through a checklist of CCTV feeds. The last two days had been... Unique. Yeah, that's about the right word, how else would one define an experience that starts with the sudden realisation that you're missing a chunk of memory; because you were recreated; because you had died. Lisa couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad about it.

Technically she was a copy, but she was still herself? At least her power insisted that she was still herself. She'd spent most of the time since then absorbing knowledge and practicing limiting the input that her power got. It was difficult, but she'd been practicing well before the gamer upgrade.

Speaking of which... Power testing space whales and Random Omnipotent Beings... Who would'a thunk it? At least she managed to hide the tiny freak-out she had about that from the others, they wouldn't have let it go.

It also took a while to get used to two sets of foreign thoughts in her head than just one, the gamer power thoughts felt markedly different than her power's musings, they only answered queries related to gamer stuff or stuff that the shards didn't want them to know. And they sort of tasted... bluish?

 ** _That's how your mind interprets them, and they're called the Akashic Records, not 'Gamer power thoughts', such a disrespectful little twit!_**

And it was also a prissy smartass, which was alright, because the personality was mimicked from her after all.

Her musings were disrupted as she spotted what she was looking for in the feeds. She followed the target through a series of cameras across the city.

Thomas Calvert, leaving his house, hailing a cab and going to the airport.

 _Appears slightly nervous, but also excited about something._

 _Excited and sure of himself about his decisions._

 _Has decided to go for a new beginning._

Perfect. She didn't want to mess with Airport security cams. But whoever would, would be able to track Calvert - actually her boyfriend in a Calvert suit - boarding a flight to Munich, then coming out and taking another cab to an office building which housed a PMC with obvious ties to Gesselschaft.

She'd already sent the PRT a very apologetic but formal mail saying that he's off to do some emergency foreign consultation and would be indefinitely unavailable. It had taken her a lot of power usage for her to write it so it won't be considered a fake by the PRT thinkers.

Dev was also laundering his visible money in a way that'll stink of the Nazis but there won't be any proof.

"Are you sure this will be enough?" Aveek asked from beside her.

"Yeah, this'll send anyone investigating him on a wild goose chase long enough for us to be able to dismantle any and all failsafes he had."

"You think there are more?" Aveek raised an eyebrow.

 _Hopes he doesn't have to deal with any more of Coil's failsafes._

"Duh! Evil mastermind?" She rolled eyes at her boyfriend... The term still sounded weird in her mind, she'd had no concept of actually seeing someone with all that it entailed.

But it was good weird, Aveek was smart enough to keep up with her, amoral but altruistic, and mostly immune to her snark, sometimes giving as good as he got. And of course there was the fact that she could get as close to him as possible and only thing her power would give were anecdotes about his past, not a single word about bacteria or dirt or bodily fluids or deviant thoughts.

Though now that she'd absorbed tons of psychology she also understood the fact that such thoughts were utterly commonplace, but hearing only what Aveek allowed out was overall a much better experience.

But she'd realised that a years old habit doesn't go away that easily. She still flinched reflexively at being touched at times. Her newest form of self therapy was to get close to Danny and stoke his paternal instincts. When in a good mood he was a moderately touchy feely person, and generally without the slew of awkward thoughts that would come with someone closer to her age. (Honestly, Dev did his best to be casual with her but he was generally super awkward around girls.) It was perfect therapy for her.

Also, she'd never ever openly admit it, but it felt good to have a paternal figure care solely about her well being and not her abilities for once.

"What're you thinking so hard about?" Aveek nudged her.

"Huh? This and that, how long is the flight for?"

"A few hours at least... You hacked cameras in Munich too?"

She shrugged, "A few, just to ensure they get the right views. Anyway, we've got a few hours to kill. And I've never visited any ancient Indian ruins... Do you have any memories good enough to prime a holodeck?" She smiled at her boyfriend suggestively. Boyfriend, weird word, but she definitely liked the shape of it.

* * *

 _February 7, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 9:26 PM_

The moment Lisa felt the environment change from the forest to Aveek's bedroom, she checked the system clock in her mind. Less than 10 seconds, nice, almost as fast as they practiced. Taylor immediately took out two smartphones and started operating them with both hands... That girl was turning out to be a bigger nerd than Aveek.

If this were earlier, she'd get a slew of information from her power about how she was just disintegrated and recreated, but relentlessly practicing with her input control throughout the last week had reaped huge benefits, she could now pretty much control what her power perceived as a query as long as she remained focused on limiting the input. It was amazing, she could basically roll around in muck and choose to have no idea about how many different species' excreta did it contain.

Lisa also took out her phone and checked the latest updates from miss Xhao. Briefly triggering her power with those messages as input gave her the required information. She addressed Aveek and Taylor, "Okay, so Lung is going to hit the decoy warehouse, and Oni is going to scout around the loft. Taylor, I need to pick up some stuff from Coil's armory before meeting up with the others. Send word?"

Taylor nodded, "As Tattletale right?" She continued focusing on her phones, "Okay, informed them, the base crew will be expecting you, I'll message you the password when you reach." Lisa nodded, then hugged Taylor, then Aveek, "I'll let you know if anything varies from plan. Give me an ID for exactly 30 seconds?"

Aveek grabbed her and dropped into an ID, whereupon she gave him a more passionate goodbye, turned on Hyperfocus and left in a blur, shattering the window. Exactly 29 seconds from when the ID was created - she was standing on one of the taller rooftops away from the neighbourhood, the ID collapsed. Back in the real world, she made her way to Coil's base... Actually, it was their base now, they should call it something better than Coil's base.

* * *

 _February 7, 2011, Undersiders' Loft - Brockton Bay, 10:15 PM_

"So that's the plan, any questions?" Lisa looked around at her team.

"Yes, how on Earth do you think you can solo Oni Lee?" Brian was looking at her with an incredulous expression. He still hadn't put on the simple common-channel earpieces that Aveek had cobbled up with his electronics knowledge.

 _Brian thinks she is being cagey with parts of the plan that she doesn't want to share. Is feeling insecure because of that._

Oh Grue, he's such a straight shooter, sometimes Lisa found it hard to believe that the guy went into the villain business to begin with.

Lisa shrugged, "Trust me, I have gifts from the new bosses, I'm best equipped to deal with his power."

Brian still didn't look convinced, "Tattletale, you're being extra cagey about this, and honestly, these 'new bosses'", he made air quotes, "they sound too good to be true..." He quickly interrupted Lisa's oncoming rebuttal, "Look, I'm not saying they've not been good to us, we've already got the increased paychecks, the new fancy gear will be useful, I've also been informed that the final custody hearing for Aisha has been fast-tracked. All this is very nice, but what's the catch?" He looked around to his other teammates for confirmation.

Alec shrugged, "Don't know, don't care, the money flows, I'm loving the new bosses."

Rachel gave Lisa a sharp look, "An actual kennel? I still think you're fucking with me."

Lisa shook her head, "No messing. Fully stocked and staffed kennel, I've already started looking for an out of the way location."

Rachel blinked, her hand stopped combing Angelica, then she cocked her head, "I'm good then. What do they want me to do for it?"

Lisa sighed, then looked at all of them, "Listen, I'll come clean with you. The new bosses are being generous because they're my friends. That's all there is. And in exchange of the benefits they're providing, they have only one set of directives for you."

Brian nodded in a 'told-you-so' gesture, Lisa could tell Alec slightly relaxed upon hearing that there was indeed a catch, only Rachel had no change in demeanor, given that she was just awaiting the answer to her question.

Lisa raised two fingers, "One, do not harm civilians. Two, avoid major property damage."

Rachel just nodded firmly, then went back to combing Angelica.

Alec let out a low whistle, "Not that I have any problems with that. And I don't know exactly how that sounds fishy, but that sounds fishy."

"Hmm. Do these bosses have the same need to be anonymous as our previous ones?" Brian still seemed completely out of his comfort zone.

Lisa shook her head, "Not for long, they'll reveal themselves soon enough, and you can take your complaints directly to them then. For now we have less than ten minutes before Oni Lee hits, are we good on the plan or not?"

There were noises of reluctant, nonchalant and unimpressed acquiescence. Brian sighed and put in the earpiece.

"Alright guys, positions please. Grue, you have tactical command on the grunts." Lisa left for the rooftop next to the loft.

Bitch had already started to grow her dogs, Lisa watched them leave the loft and disappear into neighboring buildings.

The ABB soon appeared, there were almost 30 of them, they had spread out and were circling in around the area of the loft, often going in to check out abandoned buildings.

Tattletale climbed up a ledge where they'll have a better view of her, they did spot her soon enough and started closing in fast, guns pointed, the silence being punctuated with random insults from the thugs. Most of them in the vicinity of Lvl. 20 due to possessing firearms, a few of them were near 30 because of unarmed combat mastery, guess the stereotypes are true in some cases.

 _Their command of their native tongues is halting. Many of them are second generation. Some have learned martial arts only because their parents..._

Lisa reigned her power in tighter, it would still often spout irrelevant information when she lost focus at times. She couldn't wait till she had full control on that.

 ** _You need 28 more levels in Query Inputs subskill to max it out. Only then will you have full control._**

Thank you Akashic Records, you're no slouch in the irrelevance department. She had a healthy respect for Aveek's tolerance of how annoying the gamer prompts could get.

 _ABB goon 23m away at 2-o-clock is going to shoot. **Getting hit by that shot on uncovered skin will cost less than 20% HP, less than 3% if it hits one of the armor plates.**_

Meh, she didn't want to scuff her new costume, Taylor had taken time to dye it in her favorite purple and black, Aveek had lovingly woven carbon nanotube strands in the spidersilk fibres and fitted it with layered graphene armor plates, it was a thing of beauty. She waved at the gunman and jumped down from the ledge, the shot rang loud and the bullet whizzed by a few inches above her.

Her earpiece crackled, "Bitch, let the dogs out, Regent, mess with their gun arms."

There was a muffled command from Bitch, the three dogs ran out of a broken warehouse door outside the gangers' circle. The scene erupted into chaos.

Lisa turned on Hyperfocus, everything slowed down to half speed, she swept her gaze around and switched her power full on.

 _Bitch waiting in the warehouse. Waiting for the dogs to finish corralling the goons._

 _Angelica is not biting, only nudging the gangers, the force is enough to send them sprawling._

 _Regent is behind that window, looking through a binocular and exercising his power._

 _Judas prefers paw swipes, he's still not out of his playful age._

 **Hyperfocus has gained a level.**

 _Grue is in the building at 8-o-clock, he's extruding his darkness all around them but keeping it away from the scene._

 _Brutus is simply using his presence to circle the gangers and dissuade any from cutting and running for it._

 _Oni Lee is standing on the rooftop behind her. Oni Lee is standing on a windowsill to her left._

 _Both are clones, Oni Lee has appeared right behind her._

She let out a full force back kick hit him at his center of mass. His look of confused surprise at her speed was poetic to watch. She saw his tag as he flew.

 **(Petite Mort)**  
 **Lee Jingwen / Oni Lee**  
 **Lvl. 41 ABB Villain**

The cape name changed from **Oni Lee** to **clOni Lee** even as he fell. Very funny, Gamer AI.

 _That is now a clone, Oni Lee is standing on the ledge of the warehouse in front._

The clone disintegrated before it hit the ground. She focused on the newest one.

 _Oni Lee is right in front of her. The one on the warehouse is a clone. He gazes at his destination briefly before cloneporting. Power is Line of sight._

 **Hyperfocus has gained a level.**

She ducked a knife strike and swept his legs.

 _He's looking behind her. This is now a clone. Oni Lee is behind her. That is now a clone, he just armed a grenade. Oni Lee is standing beside his previous clone on top of the warehouse._

The one in the front disintegrated after falling. She turned and kicked the grenade out of the hand of the clone behind her and used the spinning motion to land a roundhouse to his head. He disintegrated instantly.

 _The grenade did not detonate, it disintegrated simultaneously as the clone. The first clone on the rooftop behind her also disintegrated._

 _The clones last 3 to 8 seconds before disintegrating unless they suffer a major hit._

 _[warning]"DUCK!"_

She complied without thinking as two shots whizzed above her, that was Taylor... Wait, Taylor?

 ** _The Queen of Escalation has positioned herself to be able to monitor both fights._** _She's not exercising her powers visibly here to avoid disclosing her true range._

Oh, of course she would do that. She sent a quick thanks to Taylor as the Oni Lees on the nearby rooftops shooting at her disintegrated.

 **Hyperfocus is now level 10, up to 4X mental speed can be achieved.**

She immediately pumped Hyperfocus up to X4. There, the remaining 3 Oni Lees were moving as if they were underwater. And she felt much more in control of the speed and coordination that 100+ DEX gave her body. She messaged Taylor not to warn her unless it was something fatal. And with her bio-modded stats and costume, which even had the perforated graphene headgear that let her hair out but protected her from a headshot, nothing short of an HEI sniper round to her exposed lower face or eye-holes would actually be fatal.

She tapped her earpiece and intoned with deliberate slowness, "Grrrruuuueee, ccoooovvveeerrrr uuussss!"

Soon enough, black smoke billowed from the building Grue was in, it also started coming out of the buildings around it, he'd taken the time to build up the volume of smoke required for this. The last remaining clone of Oni Lee disintegrated. He created two more in rooftops around.

Lisa watched them raise their guns one by one, and she jerked to dodge each shot by a hair's breadth with only a little help from her power. The darkness had already circled around to build a wall isolating the few buildings around the loft. She crouched into a roll to dodge the next three shots and brought out her own gun and a flashbang from the inventory while standing up again.

Oni Lee had replicated twice more in the meanwhile, he wasn't even trying to get near her now. She aimed at the 4 Lees her power told were clones and shot them straight in the head one by one. Even before they could disintegrate, she focused on the last one and thumbed the explode-on-impact button on the flashbang. Coil had his armoury well stocked with these, they packed quite a punch and had various detonation settings.

 _That is the real Oni Lee, he is stunned at the speed of her shooting, he's looking around for an escape route. Can't find any due to Grue's blocking. He's gazing at a spot right in front of her. Intends to cloneport immediately behind her again._

Lisa dropped the gun, she wasn't sure which way he'd be looking at his last port. Even as he appeared right in front of her and started raising his gun, she took out another flashbang, armed it and threw both at the ground on either side behind her as she lunged at the Lee in front and braced for the explosion.

 _He is looking behind her... This is now a clone._

She clapped her ears and scrunched her eyes as she headbutted the Cloni Lee... Fine! it was a handy pun to use... Whatever.

She felt the light through her eyelids and felt the shockwave pass through her. She whirled and landed on her back, disturbing the white dust of the disintegrated Lee and looking at the real Lee, who was standing dazed. His tag had a Stunned status too.

"Gotcha!" She whispered as she brought out a Taser from the inventory. Lee was still shaking his head and blinking furiously. She tased him, he collapsed. Then she brought out zip-ties, a scarf and a syringe of sedative.

When she was finished, he was disarmed, hogtied, blindfolded and nicely sedated for at least 6 hours. She got a congratulatory message from Taylor, _[proud]"Very nice job Lisa. I'm almost jealous that you get to engage hand to hand. Anyway, Lung and his team are almost here, you guys should come watch. The police will arrive there in a few minutes anyway. Leave Lee on the rooftop where you are, the cops have been told of him."_

Well, that wasn't a bad idea at all. She went over to the ledge and looked below.

The guys were done down there already, all the grunts were lying down, a few had managed to escape. But most of them had basically surrendered once they were disarmed and threatened with monstrous dogs. She tapped her earpiece, "Great work guys, now leave them and head towards the decoy warehouse. The police are coming. I'll join you on the way."

"Copy that Tattletale, climb my mount when you do. We've got to talk."

 _Grue watched part of her fight with Oni Lee, is both baffled and spooked by her speed and prowess. Asked her to climb on midway because he wants to be sure of what he saw._

"Got it." She replied wearily, she already could hear the police sirens as she watched Bitch climb on to Brutus, Regent on Judas and Grue on Angelica, they ran along the streets a little distance before scaling a warehouse and hitting the rooftops.

She parkoured her way to a point her power told her would be best to mount Angelica. She waved at them when they approached, the others slowed down but Grue didn't. She jumped on effortlessly and settled in behind Grue. He turned his head and spoke, "What the fuck was that? Were you just pretending to be only a thinker till now? Was it something the old boss made you do?"

She patted his shoulder, "No Brian, nothing like that, as I said, gifts from the new bosses."

She could tell he was gaping from even behind his helmet. "What? I thought you meant the new gear and flashbangs and stuff. The new bosses are giving out powers? Are you shitting me?"

She shook her head, "Not powers exactly. Look, we're almost there at the decoy warehouse. I promise most of your questions will be answered today. Tell the others to stop on top of the old mall before the warehouse. You'll see something interesting."

Grue relayed the orders. They came to a halt on the top of the old shopping mall that had long been stripped of anything shoppable. This was a more derelict part of the docks than the area around the Loft. It was Lisa's idea for the Undersiders to appear at times going in or coming out of this warehouse, especially under the views of bystanders. The mall had a clear view of the warehouse.

Well, the decoy sure worked, the others didn't need to be told what was interesting. They were all watching Maker fight a semi-draconic Lung, helped by bugs.

"That's badass." Regent muttered when he saw Maker create a blue glowing katana and slit Lung's throat with it.

"What's with the bugs? Is it Swarm? Doesn't she have a bug body or something?" Grue asked her.

"It's not necessary, and yeah, you've heard of them?"

"Of course, the blue one is the new healer in town. And Swarm, well, there's definitely a buzz about her amongst the gangs..." He looked at her smirking face, then facepalmed, "Pun _not_ intended. Ugh! And aren't you the one who's supposed to give us info about new threats?"

She shrugged, "They're not threats, they're doing us a favour, aren't they?"

"They're heroes, we're villains, of course they're threats."

Lisa scoffed, "Haven't you heard, Maker, the blue one, breaks the legs of all the thugs he catches?"

Grue groaned, "Oh great, another violent vigilante... And you still say they're not threats?"

She nodded, "Trust me, they're not threats, they're doing you a favour, and you should thank them for it. They knew Lung was coming to get payback for the casino."

Grue seemed confused, the battle was over by now. Regent and Bitch had joined the conversation too. Regent shrugged and said, "If you guarantee they'll not come after us, I don't see harm in thanking them. Pays to be in good graces of capes who can take down lung without breaking a sweat."

Lisa nodded, "I guarantee. Let's move from this rooftop. I know where they'll go once they're done. Bitch, try not to anger them."

Bitch sniffed, "I'm not stupid. He seems strong. Just get this over with."

Grue sighed again, "Alright, where to?"


	50. Cutscenes 7-1 Taylor

**Interlude - 7.1 Taylor**

 _ _February 7, 2011, Docks - Brockton Bay, 11:43 PM__

Taylor was having fun labeling each downed ABB thug based on whether they were stung with or without venom using firefly alphabets. Initially, the PRT troopers arresting the goons were spooked, but they recovered fast and currently there was a dedicated trooper noting down each label as the arrests progressed. She was also entertaining a toddler whose parents weren't home with some butterflies in a nearby apartment. And of course meeting the Undersiders, putting the Swarm Avatar in the confident posture that Lisa had named 'Benevolent Overlady Mode'.

It was during all this that Tattletale dropped the bomb, "Guys, meet our new bosses."

Grue's mouth opened and closed a few times, Taylor could tell from his skin mites.

Regent muttered "Shit."

Bitch just shrugged as if she'd merely been told that water is wet. Taylor was quite impressed with her composure.

"Uh..." Grue was yet to recover it seemed.

"Yep, the new tech and gear we just used is courtesy of Maker. And we had advance warning of today's attack due to Swarm's effort." Lisa mentioned casually.

"A...And your speedster power?" Grue had regained his voice it seemed. Taylor found it amusing that such a well built, good looking... Ahem, she was digressing... Such an imposing and serious man was fumbling around for words... Compared to his behaviour when she was keeping an eye on the loft, and the memories Lisa had shared for basic profiling, this was very uncharacteristic of the usually polite yet firm, handsome and... Uh, she was digressing again... Whatever, for once she didn't have any complaints about the amount of information the skin mites gave her.

Lisa nodded and paused to draw a deep breath and gave Maker a pointed look. Taylor was sure they were passing messages, Maker nodded back.

Lisa addressed the others, "Um, guys, Maker is not just a healer, he's a biotinker too. I've consented to undergo some experimental biomods that synergize with my power."

Grue went back to doing the fish impression.

Regent muttered, "holy fucking shit..."

Bitch looked confused, "What?"

"He made me faster and stronger by changing my body." Lisa explained. Taylor could tell how hard Lisa was trying to keep condescension out of her body language.

Bitch frowned and grunted "Then just say so."

 _[Concern]"Is Bitch always like this?"_ Taylor messaged Lisa. Her profiling memories didn't account for either antagonism or retardation.

 _[Reassurance]"Not really, consider it more like a form of autism. I'll explain in detail later."_

Taylor tracked the PRT prisoner van carrying Oni Lee as it left her range. They'd been smart and not taken his blindfold off. A couple of the ABB thugs managed to run before the BPPD and PRT had arrived near the loft, Taylor had to let them go to avoid disclosing her range.

"Ahem." Grue took the reins of the conversation again, "I'm assuming you're already aware of our identities since you're helping with my custody issue?" Maker nodded, Grue continued, "Then you have my gratitude both for saving my sister's life and scaring her to stay out of villainy."

Swarm smiled as warmly as a glowing insect apparition woman could. Maker shrugged, "I thought she needed the warning, you should also thank Panacea when you get the chance, she was the one who healed her, I could only stabilize her."

Grue nodded, "If I get the chance, I will. So, since you're funding us and have not shut us down yet. What exactly do you want from the Undersiders?" His spine straightened as he continued, "No offense but I find myself very curious about the motivations behind two vigilantes controlling a villain team." Taylor was quite impressed with how well spoken he could be when he needed to.

She got a message from Lisa, _[Amusement]"He's so your type isn't he? Let me see if I can arrange for Taylor to meet Brian."_

What? How did she even? Argh!

 _[Indignation]"!"[Embarrassment]_ She didn't bother replying with words, instead made a mental note to make more of an effort to not let her unconscious thoughts leak into the Swarm Avatar's body language.

Maker nodded at Grue, "Good question. I'll be clear with you. Our goals are to help people, have fun and profit from our ventures - in no particular order. So consider us more like altruistic rogues than vigilantes. As for you guys, I don't consider you a villain team to begin with. For now, all I want you to do is keep targeting gang establishments for your heists and we insist that you avoid civilian and collateral damages. Once your reputation has grown to incorporate these factors, we can jointly decide which direction your team should take from there."

"Aw man! Don't tell me you want to turn us into heroes!" Regent almost whined.

Maker suddenly took a menacing step towards Regent, and replied with vehemence, "And do what, make you prance around in colourful costumes and give rousing speeches? What good would that do? And which part of 'fun and profit' do you fail understand?"

Regent backpedalled immediately, raising his arms in surrender, "Hey hey! You know the best, boss! 'Fun and profit' are like my middle names! I'm in!" He managed to come off as mostly jocular and nonchalant but the twinge of nervousness was quite apparent. Taylor personally thought it apt, Regent needed to learn to be a bit more professional when in costume.

She removed the butterflies from the toddler, his mother had come home.

Grue came to the rescue, "Please ignore him. His mouth runs ahead of his brain at times." Regent merely shrugged at that. Grue continued, "Anyway, I don't think we have any problems with going after gang owned businesses. I hope we can count on your backup if we run into capes we can't handle?"

Swarm nodded, "Of course, ensuring your well-being is our responsibility."

Tattletale's grin gained a few levels in smugness. A fly dove into her mouth, she spit it out and glared at Swarm. Taylor made sure the Avatar did not mimic her giggling.

A PRT officer addressed the floating letters above the last ABB grunt, "Thanks for the help, is this the last one?" Taylor changed the lettering from 'WASPS, NO VENOM' to 'YES, LAST. GOODBYE' and dispersed them.

"You can also count on us for healing whenever you need it." Maker added.

"Can you heal dogs?" This was the first time Bitch had addressed the gamers.

"Sure, do any of them need healing now?"

Bitch nodded, one of the dogs started shrinking. "Wait. Shrink her when I say so." The dog stopped shrinking. Maker walked over to the dog, it shifted uneasily, Bitch made a clucking noise, the dog stilled. Maker touched the dog and it started glowing blue, Taylor reasoned he just wanted scans of the transformation process. Maker nodded at bitch, who had a puzzled expression but she complied. Strips of meat and bones began sloughing off, then vanishing in blue flashes, Bitch looked all the more confused.

In the end, all that was left was a terrier, hairless and missing an eye and an ear. Taylor could feel no fleas or ticks on the dog, Bitch must groom them pretty well.

"I'm going to sedate Angelica so that she isn't spooked by the healing process, okay?"

Bitch nodded, then frowned, "How do you know her name?"

Tattletale interjected, "He's the boss. Of course he knows their names."

Bitch nodded and watched intently as the glowing dog laid down, then her eyes went wide as the scars on Angelica healed, the missing ear regrew and finally a smooth coat of fur appeared. Bitch's face was sporting an unconscious grin behind the dog mask. Maker picked Angelica up and handed her to bitch, who accepted her like she was being handed the keys to Brockton Bay. "She'll wake in a few moments." Then he turned to the others, "Speaking of healing, I need to scan all of you so that it's easier to restore you if you're injured later. Bitch, no need to shrink the others, I can scan them as they are, also, wait before you grow Angelica again. Guys, touch here please." He extruded a tinkertech looking panel from his arm.

Bitch was the first to comply, still grinning and cradling a freshly woken two-eyed and two eared Angelica. As she flashed blue, she spoke in much milder tones than before, "Thanks boss." Maker just nodded at her and motioned for the others to follow. Grue went next, then Regent, finally Tattletale came over and theatrically touched the panel. Maker chuckled and shooed her off.

"Alright guys, your loft has been made. Tattletale will help you relocate to a new base. We'll get in touch with you in a while. Now, I believe we're all on the same page, if there's nothing else to discuss, we'll take your leave."

The Undersiders murmured assents and farewells, Maker scanned Angelica as Bitch regrew her. As they mounted up, Maker dropped into an ID and Taylor dispersed the Swarm Avatar.

The Undersiders didn't leave immediately. Taylor listened on as Regent pantomimed wiping his brow, "Phew, well, that just happened."

Grue nodded distractedly, then turned towards Lisa, "Tattl..."

"Yes, they were being honest. No, they'll not double-cross us. Just take his warning not to hurt civilians seriously. Yes I'm close friends with them. No you may not ask for details, it's personal."

Grue sighed and nodded again. Bitch issued some commands and they were on their way. Taylor tracked them towards the loft as she waited for Maker to come and pick her up from inside the barred up shop she was sitting in. She continued to study the tinkertech code of their phones while keeping an eye on PHO for leaks on the night's events.

* * *

 _ _February 9, 2011, Beach near the Rig - Brockton Bay, 9:58 PM__

Taylor sat on one of the benches, there were some tourists lazing around, this was one of the ends of the boardwalk, the tour boats for the Protectorate HQ left from the jetty here. She finished creating her mini-map of the Rig and shared it with Aveek.

Armsmaster was sitting in an area with a ridiculously low insect count, must be his lab, most of the other heroes that she could identify from their skin mites were at different places all over the Rig. Velocity's mites were special, the information she got from them was fast-forwarded though unlike the first time she noticed it in the hospital after her trigger, her upgraded neurology could now parse that info somewhat better.

She'd done this exercise yesterday too once Aveek had confirmed the meeting with the white-hats. Lisa had helped plan things out, her terminology was contagious.

Well, things were looking as good as they ever would, she messaged Aveek.

 _[Confidence]"Alright then, let's get this show on the road. Ready when you are."_

Maker rose up from one of the rooftops nearby and started flying towards the Rig, a spherical cloud of bugs followed him.

* * *

A/N: Back in my country, not home yet, but chapters should start flowing. Next up, Armsy.


	51. Cutscenes 7-2 Colin

**Interlude - 7.2 Colin**

 _February 8, 2011, Protectorate HQ - Brockton Bay, 8:52 PM_

Colin always prided himself on the fact that he was one of the few tinkers with an actual engineering education. Which contributed greatly to his power of improving others' tinkertech.

Most of the times when he observed or scanned other tinkers' work, he'd get at least a basic idea of what it did and how it worked. But this time he was stumped.

He'd gone through his scans of Maker, viewed all the available footage umpteen times, even read through Panacea's reports thrice. But he had no idea how his armour or tech worked or even if there was any tech on him when they met.

All he got was that the armour was made of pure, very dense tungsten and carbon compounds. And the blue glow was almost but not exactly Cherenkov Radiation, but the levels of radioactivity around him weren't significantly above normal at all.

In fact if it weren't for Panacea's report, Colin would be strongly inclined to believe that Maker wasn't a tinker at all. The report mentioned his speciality as dimensional effects, and the few readings he got from that teleportation lightshow was somewhat similar to the readings he'd gotten from one of Toybox's pocket dimension devices operating during one of their expos.

That was the only explanation, if Maker's tech employed some kind of dimensional shielding, then it all made sense. Colin was still disappointed at not getting any ideas but at least the guy wasn't a villain. Though Swarm's speech about rejecting labels didn't sit well with him, it sounded somewhat naïve and idealistic. He could only hope these guys wouldn't cross the line over to the other side.

On that note, he'd assumed by their built and demeanour that they were adults, but it could be otherwise. He would confirm it when they come in for registration tomorrow.

His musings were interrupted by the noise of a throat clearing.

"Ahem."

He distractedly turned to the monitor where Dragon's face was giving him a reproachful look. "Yes Dragon?"

"Your food has gotten cold. Again."

"Ah. Yes, it's fine."

Dragon sighed and shook her head, "Anyway, I have the results from the most powerful scanner I had access to. The structure is completely flawless."

Colin sat up straighter. He'd sent her a sample from the shackles that Maker had put on Lung, he got interested when the PRT couldn't undo it and he had to use his halberd's plasma blade to cut it.

"Completely flawless?"

"Colin, I ran a script to go through the atomic scan and compare lattice distances for each blip. It has already run through more than a quintillion iterations, there's not a single deviation! Previously the best I'd seen was an armour composite from a materials tinker in Australia, it had a lattice perfection rate of 9 sigma, this is way beyond. The toughness of the material is also comparably more. Who made this?"

"A new tinker called Maker."

"The same who's selling pure elements to research labs? I was thinking of getting in touch with him."

Colin blinked, "I didn't know that. I'm sharing his files from yesterday. I can't get a bead on his tech. But if he can fabricate materials of this quality... Do you remember the plans for the graphene processor core that we had to shelve?"

"Because even our best fabricators couldn't achieve precision at that scale... The man calls himself Maker after all, hopefully it's not just out of hubris. If he can make that, it'd help advance a lot of our tech... What would you offer in exchange?"

"I don't know yet. I am meeting him tomorrow. I'd appreciate any input you could offer."

"Of course. Let me go through these videos and reports in depth. I'll also dredge the net and see what I can find out about this guy. I'll get back to you in a bit. And the food better be finished by then."

Colin gave a reluctant nod and picked up the plate containing his optimally balanced meal as the monitor turned off.

* * *

 _February 9, 2011, PHQ, The Rig - Brockton Bay, 9:55 AM_

Colin shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. The workout and shower hadn't done much to alleviate his fatigue. He'd stayed up late last night going through Dragon's reports, in hindsight, the fact that so many off-the-norm things had happened since the time Maker and Swarm had shown up should have been spotted by the Think Tank.

The fact that a number of wanted mercenaries had shown up gift-wrapped in relevant precincts, quite a few who were last known to be working for Coil.

The capture of Oni Lee almost simultaneously as that of Lung, that too by the Undersiders. Which is not their MO at all.

The association of Maker and Swarm with the same civilians who were responsible for the unveiling of the Shadow Stalker mess. Civilians who'd left school and gotten their GEDs in short order.

The fact that BPPD has yet made no noise about the brutal takedowns by Maker leaving all the criminals crippled for a good while. The only doctor who raised alarm about it being immediately outed as an E88 informant and sacked for malpractice.

Apart from all of that, Dragon's analysis of the Lung fight mentioning that Maker was apparently too relaxed to be doing anything more than toying with Lung.

He'd sent the report to the Think Tank last night for priority threat assessment. Their reply in the morning was definitely weird. Apparently Maker was absolutely no more threat than a civilian even if he went the villain route. Which was impossible to believe.

Individually each was an interesting tidbit of information, overall they painted a confusing but very mysterious picture. A picture which Colin couldn't make head or tail of.

At least Dragon said Maker would be open to business dealings. Never had Colin been so conflicted about meeting another tinker. He was excited because of all the upgrades that he could make if his and Dragon's assessment of Maker's tech were true. On the other hand, if it indeed were true, Maker was a tinker of a much higher caliber than him, a thought which immediately evoked a wave of envy and resentment. In a way he was secretly relieved that he didn't want to join the Protectorate.

His phone rang, he routed it to his helmet.

"Armsmaster speaking"

"Armsmaster, Maker here, Swarm and I are flying in for the meeting. Instructions for landing?"

"Hold."

Colin thumbed the intercom and called internal security. After a short conversation, he reopened the line to Maker.

"You're cleared to land on Helipad 3. The forcefield will open a wedge when you approach. Troops will escort you from there."

"Acknowledged. Thank you."

"Yes." Was that the correct response? He was too tense to care.

He stood up, picked up the compacted utility halberd from the rack and clamped it to his back, he'd been told that the patrol halberd is too intimidating in noncombat scenarios.

As he cycled through the airlock of his lab, he stretched a few times in an ineffective attempt to get rid of the fatigue and tension. He really didn't like these reminders that he was quite past his physical prime. His last coffee was 20 minutes ago, no help on that front either. Thankfully it was a slow morning and there was nothing significant going on in the city.

On the way to meeting room 3E, he engaged the social interaction program and it labelled the passing personnel, he should have done that when Maker called. He grunted out relevant greetings and nods as prompted by his HUD. He didn't really get how they helped interpersonal communication, but they worked and he wasn't complaining.

As he entered the meeting room, Hannah was already there, her scarf was down as she was finishing some drink. His HUD told him to retract his visor, he did so.

"Colin, you look tired." He appreciated that she didn't waste time on pleasantries with him.

He gave her a nod, "Late night. Are they here yet?"

"The helipad crew spotted them approach when they alerted me, they should have landed by now. Strange to see you early for a meeting."

"Only a minute to Ten. I'm interested in the tinker."

She smiled, "That's nice. They mailed us the completed registration forms a few minutes before they called. Just need the signatures." She pointed to a sheaf of papers in front of the table.

He picked them up and started looking through them. Pretty standard, no civilian ID disclosed, Swarm actually had marked it as 'Not Applicable'. Their response on consent to power testing was also interesting, "We are thoroughly aware of our power's specifics, ask us. If we come to something that we would want your help, we will consider it."

Hannah looked over his shoulder and said, "They don't seem like fresh triggers to me at all."

He nodded, "So they said. After Dragon's report last night I'm convinced they have been involved in much more than we are aware of."

Hannah nodded, the visitor's entrance chimed. She pulled her scarf up. He extended his visor down. They took positions hammered into them by Glenn Chambers.

The door opened and they came in. Maker's armor was glowing much less, his helmet wasn't faceless, the bottom half was open (his footage from the hospital had the same helmet). Swarm was slightly shorter, though she still towered over them. Her shape was more defined and was much less dense than he remembered.

"Swarm, Maker, thank you for meeting us." Hannah's intonation and body language somehow put those two at ease... Or so Colin's HUD told him. He had no idea how to do that.

"The pleasure's all ours Miss Militia, Armsmaster." Maker nodded at them. Colin returned it. The reports said Maker's accent was nondescript, but the social program distinctly recognised it as British.

"It's nice of you to send in the forms, it's all in order, we just need your signatures on it." Hannah pointed at the documents in Colin's hands, he passed it on to Maker.

"Sure." Maker opened the last page and touched it, there was a blue glow and a stylized 'Maker' was printed on the dotted line in shiny bluish letters. Then Swarm put her finger below it and a spider came out of it to write 'Swarm' with intricate bluish green webbing.

Colin took the papers back and immediately scanned the signatures, "You signed with pure Osmium. And what are these proteins on Swarm's signature? And did you pull the metal out of a pocket dimension or create it ex nihilo?"

Miss Militia held out a hand, "I think the best question to ask is what can you tell us about your powers and activities?"

Swarm nodded, "I'll go first. I gained consciousness as a single insect, then two, then three, and so on, my thoughts didn't gain coherence before I was a few thousand insects. I don't have memories before that. Currently I generally am a few million insects spread out in a range varying from a hundred yards to half a mile approximately. I have full control of all the insects that make me. And I can discern shapes and sounds where I have a sufficient concentration of insects. It took me a while to get my bearings. It was a long time before I learned to make this body. I don't remember how I looked before. I've spent quite a few months lurking around the Bay trying to help people unobtrusively. On that note, I must commend you on the swift response to the Winslow assault incident. Miss Hebert was the first person I got in contact with after that."

Miss Militia nodded, "We had a hunch. Some of the students mentioned buzzing insects during their interviews. Also the fact that she's been known to alert the police on your behalf."

Swarm nodded. "It was her idea to make a body and modulate the buzzing to talk. She helped me during my patrols before I teamed up with Maker. So that's me. Any particular questions? Maker will tell you about the coloured spiderweb."

"Not for now." Colin said, the explanation was comprehensive. And he wasn't much interested in her anyway, he turned to Maker.

Maker nodded, "My power is a bit complicated, I've gone into tinker fugue only once when I got my power. I cannibalized two laptops, a gaming console and multiple appliances around the house to create some sort of dimension manipulating BCI helmet. The moment I turned it on, it folded itself into a pocket dimension but the mental link remained.

"I don't know how it works. But it allows me to absorb and retain knowledge at an accelerated rate, allows me to manipulate pocket dimensions, block and mimic dimensional effects and scan things passively or actively in a short range around me. All the additional powers that you must be aware of; flight, energy projection, healing, constructs, and fabrication, are dimensional manipulation techniques I've learned after studying the powers of different capes.

"The blocking also renders me immune to master and stranger effects. I can't use these learned powers instinctively like the capes, I actually have to understand and model or script the dimensional effects to use them.

"All my attempts to recreate or retrieve the helmet have been in vain. My enhanced knowledge gives me an advanced understanding of technology, which I hope will translate to tinkertech too. And Panacea has been giving me lessons in biology which have improved my healing tech and allowed me to make biomods like adding pigmentation proteins to some spidersilk glands.

"And yes, consider the signature sort of an advertisement, I can create and fabricate materials with extreme precision. That's about it, any questions?"

"So you're a biotinker too?" Colin was tense, this was a fresh can of worms.

"If you can call the ability to create things that modern science can but lacks the means to, like neuromuscular augmentation, sure, but ask me to create eldritch abominations with alien biology like Nilbog or Blasto, I'll be stumped. And it goes without saying that I wouldn't even if I could."

"Hmm." It made sense to Colin, but he didn't know how far it would sail with director Piggot.

"Would you be willing to provide some examples of your powers?" Miss Militia changed the subject with one of the standard questions. It played well into Colin's line of enquiry too. "Yes, particularly nanofabrication."

Hannah interjected, "Healing too, if you don't mind, it's always good to have more healers on call, we're grateful that you've taken some load off Panacea in the hospital. We'd also like to not bother her all the time, especially considering she's a minor."

"On that point," Colin took over, "What are your ages?"

"You're not obligated to answer." Hannah hastily added.

Swarm shrugged, "I don't remember, but considering that I easily have a few post graduate degrees worth of knowledge and no teenage angst. I believe I'm an adult." She added with a smile.

"As am I. Anyway, on the subject of healing, sure, I'll help during emergencies whenever I'm available. As for a demonstration, Armsmaster, my passive scans show you're fatigued, I can remove it."

"You wish to apply an undocumented power on me?" Protocol warred against alacrity in Colin's mind.

"Undocumented? It's been verified by Panacea, and quite a few staff at Brockton general who've made use of it. Not to mention hundreds of patients." Maker challenged.

 _"Colin, don't be a grouch, I'll be monitoring your suit's biosensors."_ Dragon's message ticked at the bottom of his HUD. Right, she was monitoring the feeds of the meeting. He should get around to programming the new helmet cam feed access for her.

"Okay. Go ahead. I'll be recording my own scans during it." He extended his arm. Maker nodded and took his arm, "Feel free to." There was a blue flash.

He felt like he was 25 again. And he felt CLEAN.

Maker shrugged, "Huh, it seems you had some muscle and bone damage, and some gastrointestinal damage from caffeine abuse. Well, no more."

"That is good. It's been a while since Panacea had treated me." And as he remembered, this was exactly how it felt after being treated by her.

Maker nodded, "yeah, I know the feeling. Anyway, as for fabrication. I'm offering my services for trade. I'll fabricate anything you give me the schematics of. In return I want scans of some of your tech to see if I can understand it."

"Do you intend to replicate my tech?"

Maker shook his head, "I don't think that will be possible, as far as I know, most tinkertech needs regular maintenance from their creators. I wish to understand the principles behind how they work. And if I can reverse engineer something, I'll gladly share the knowledge and pay you in further fabrications to use said principles. We can draw up a contract to that effect."

Colin nodded, "I'll have to get approval for such an arrangement. But for now as a demonstration, I have a schematic for a graphene processor which can improve our infrastructure by orders of magnitude, if you can fabricate a prototype, you can use the design noncommercially and we can talk contracts for multiple fabrications later."

Maker nodded, "Sounds good. Where do we do this?"

Hannah held up her hand again, "Before you get tinkering, I still need to brief you about our affiliate programmes and security and engagement protocols. It will help smooth out future interactions."

Swarm spoke up. "We can do both, I doubt the guys want me bugging them while they geek out. You can brief me and I'll brief Maker later. It would be nice to know proper engagement protocols."

"On engagement, a few more questions." Colin added, "What's your full scope of involvement in the Winslow case? What do you know about Oni Lee's capture? And did you have anything to do with Coil recently? Also, your association with the Heberts and the Indian immigrants may become public knowledge, do they need protection?" At Hannah's glare he added "You may answer at your discretion."

Maker smiled as he spoke, "Astute questions, Armsmaster. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. In the Winslow case, I alerted Aveek of miss Hess's cape ID and warned him to avoid disclosing it at any cost, Swarm was a passive observer and contacted Taylor later, post that I met Swarm via those kids. We've been in regular contact and we've helped them with their education and training in self defense. They don't need separate protection as they have us on call.

"The Intel we have is that Lung and Oni Lee were leading parallel teams to look for the Undersiders in retaliation to them robbing an ABB casino. Lee found them, but was dealt with by them. Lung found us by mistake."

Swarm added, "Good kids those Undersiders, a bit misguided. They later contacted us to thank us for taking care of Lung. We told them that if they stopped hitting civilian targets and went for criminal assets only, we'd keep an eye out for their protection. They readily agreed. If everything goes well, an upcoming villain team just turned vigilante. We would have informed you about this anyway."

Maker nodded and continued, "As for Coil, he tried to provoke me by harming one of our associates. He paid dearly for it."

"Elaborate." Colin ground out. This was much bigger than he expected.

"We wanted to capture him but he turned out to be quite slippery. He's been run out of the States, his gang disbanded and his businesses legitimised and taken over by us, that bit is all above board. We couldn't inform you ahead because of reasons."

That was big news, Colin wanted more clarification but Hannah put her hand on his arm. "We'll look into it. What can you tell us about Coil?"

Swarm raised an eyebrow, "With or without regard to the unwritten rules?"

"Without." Colin blurted. Coil had always been an Intel black hole, the PRT was desperate for info on him, but this was shaky ground. Hannah came to the rescue again, "Consider all information shared to be in the strictest confidence and shall not be used apart from an S Class event or a 3 strikes violation."

Swarm shrugged, "We don't really care, we only honour the rules because it's polite to do so. A criminal is a criminal whether masked or not. We'll send you a detailed file later, for now, I'll give you a name, Thomas Calvert."

Colin almost broke out in a cold sweat. He remembered the last strategy meeting with Calvert. The man had top level clearance. This just went from bad to worse.

Hannah took a deep breath, her power flickered into multiple lethal armaments before settling back into the knife that it was all this while. "If that is so. You have our thanks, I understand why you couldn't inform us, but now please do share all you have about him. This is very bad news."

Maker nodded, "Definitely, last we know he skipped the continent. Be assured if he steps anywhere near this country you'll find him gift wrapped at your doorstep."

With each piece of revelation, Colin felt more and more uneasy about the amount of power and influence they were casually talking of throwing around, but he couldn't outright fault their actions. Especially if they did get the results they claimed.

He wondered how could these guys get such a clean threat assessment from the think tank? By his assessment they were easily A Class capes. His report would definitely mention the oddity. However, he was more or less satisfied with their attitudes, he doubted these guys would go villain. But he didn't expect them to stick to the law when something needed done either. That could become a problem at some point.

"Are we going for the fabrication test then?" Maker broke him out of his reverie. He realised Hannah was quiet too.

"Yes, follow me." He led Maker out of the room as Miss Militia started talking about protocols.

As they cycled through the airlock into the lab, Maker let out an appreciative whistle, "Nice setup."

Colin allowed himself a moment of pride as he sat on a terminal, hit a few keys and extracted the already prepared schematics into a data stick. "Can you parse standard CAD formats?"

Maker took the stick, "Let me see." The stick flashed blue in his hands, "Got it. Please allow me a few minutes to study this and prepare a fabrication template." He handed the stick back. Colin was impressed at the contactless data interface.

Maker stood still and glowed blue. Colin busied himself with rechecking the plans and the testing algorithms for the chip.

"Strange," Maker had stopped glowing, and he had a tiny black chip on his palm, "my knowledge says this should not work. There are at least two places which don't make sense."

Colin nodded sagely, "That's the standard reaction scientists have with tinkertech." He took the chip and slotted it into the testing port, the diagnostics started running. Red lights lit up the panels. Colin frowned, took it out, gave it a quick scan, everything seemed according to specs, he put it back on the testing slot. One, two, three, four green lights. He smiled, "But they still work. Eighteen petaflops, as predicted."

"Huh... I calculated only twelve. Can I scan it while it's on?"

"Go ahead."

Maker touched the chip on the testing station, the whole contraption glowed blue for a few seconds, more green lights kept flickering on as the chip kept passing more and more complex tests.

"Give me a moment," Maker started glowing blue again. Colin found it interesting that Maker glowed when he was analysing something. His tech was intriguing, but frustratingly inscrutable. He could have claimed to be a space wizard and people would have lapped it up.

In less than a minute, he stopped glowing, "Whoa, you have a variable capacitance, an inductance and a pulse width regulator which are being simulated by dimensional effects! And an overarching effect which increases efficiency by fifty percent. Holy cow! That is how tinkertech is black boxed!"

"And I think I've just lost the title of world's premier tinker." A voice chimed across the speakers as Dragon's monitor blinked on.

Maker spun around to face the monitor, paused, then bowed, "Dragon, I presume. Care to elucidate?"

Dragon smiled back, "It took me years to suss that secret out. The efficiency increasing around Armsmaster is a well documented phenomenon. Though I didn't know they were dimensional effects."

Maker shrugged, "It's my specialty. Can you redesign this with said components incorporated?"

Dragon nodded, smile turning smug, "That is my specialty, check your mail."

Maker glowed for a few seconds, then smiled, "This is why your title holds true." He held out his palm, a blue spark and two chips were resting there. One slightly larger than the previous design, he approached the testing station, "May I?"

Colin nodded, still confused, Maker slotted the smaller chip. Red light. Maker took it out and passed it to Colin, "give it a once over?"

Colin scanned it, it was same as the last one, he inserted it back into the testing slot. Green lights, 18 petaflops.

Maker smiled, pulled it out and slotted the larger chip. Green lights, 12 petaflops. Maker grinned now, "Care to check?"

Colin, still confused, took it and scanned it, three extra components that his power said were redundant. He slotted it back, green lights, 18 petaflops. Dragon was mimicking Maker's grin now. Colin felt another pang of jealousy, he didn't even know why. "What?" He said through clenched teeth.

Dragon replied, "I believe we have a maintenance free design that Maker can mass produce. 12 petaflops, 18 for your projects. Maker, since this design was finished by me, I want to take the marketing rights, and I'll keep a quarter of the profits, another quarter will go to Armsmaster because he came up with the original design. You get half the profits. I'm sending you the contract now. What's your current production capacity?"

Maker waited a few seconds, then nodded, "Signed and sent. I'm currently good for 200 units a day. How will you take them?"

"Received, I'm filing it. Give me a location, I'll send a drone every day for the first week, then one every week. I'm already confirming three weeks' orders in advance for our personal usage. By then I'll have marketing plans in place. We'll get in touch with you for more projects, right Armsmaster?"

Colin nodded dumbly, he was too shocked to reply. He was more than glad at ensuring a supply of ultra high performance processors. But somehow that joy was marred with the realisation that his tech possibly wasn't all real science. And he wished Dragon and Maker would just stop being so friendly.

"Of course." Maker gave Dragon a thumbs up gesture as she nodded and her screen went off.

 _"Imagine the possibilities Colin, all the miniaturisation that you couldn't previously do because of fabrication constraints. I _expedited the contract because the PRT would get stuck in red tape._ And don't worry, you're still my #1 collaborator and friend. Maker is just a good contact for fabrication and mass production design. So stop sulking."_

Colin had an involuntary smile reading that message from her. It wasn't that he was sulking, he didn't sulk. But anyway, there was a bright blue flash that dragged him out of his musings.

Maker was holding out a small box, "Here's the first two hundred. Anything else?"

"No. The Protectorate may want to get into another contract with you for healing services. And finally, two major gangs in the bay have collapsed. We will probably also call you for a strategy meeting to prevent gang war from breaking out." Colin was still slightly conflicted, but overall it had been a good day.

"That's cool. Though I must mention. For optimal healing, I'll need to scan all the members. With those scans as templates, as long as their brains are undamaged, I can bring them back to full health in a blink."

Colin nodded, given the nature of his tech, that made sense. "I'll mention that. You'll be probably called in once more to scan the other heroes and the wards, contingent on their personal permissions. I assume you already have mine?"

Maker smiled, "Can't heal without scanning."

Colin gave another nod, then used the prompt on his HUD, "Then we are done for the day. Thank you for the good work." He gave his best impression of a grin and held out his hand, Maker shook it and headed for the airlock.

Colin had a stray thought, "Are you not using your teleportation because the rig forcefield interdicts it?"

Maker chuckled, "it's not exactly teleportation, it's movement using pocket dimensions, it still takes real time to reach the destination. And I'm not using it because it's rude to do so in a high security environment like the rig."

Colin nodded and thumbed the intercom to ask for an escort from his lab to the meeting room. He gave Maker another courteous nod as he left the airlock. Then he got to work, there was a report to write, and tons of tech to upgrade with the new processors.

* * *

A/N: This chapter completely wrote itself. I wanted more friction... But the characters denied it. I'm hoping director Piggot would be more of an arse and provide the necessary drama. Next up, piggy.


	52. Cutscenes 7-3 Emily

**Cutscenes - 7.3 Emily**

 _ _February 9, 2011, PRT HQ - Brockton Bay, 4:13 PM__

Some people thought Emily hated parahumans, this wasn't true. She simply believed that any person or thing should be handled with an amount of caution which is proportionate to the amount of danger it represents. Parahumans simply represented a much higher danger than normal people, and that was that. Those who have never experienced that danger firsthand would never understand her cautiousness.

This especially applied to other parahumans, even scientists agreed that having powers changed your worldview - which was a diplomatic way to say it fucked your head up. Which is why the majority of parahumans thought of her policies as draconic, never aware of how much can go wrong at a simple misstep. Cape casualties were not statistics to her, they were real people, with real lives and families, who fell victims to the violence either committed or backed up by capes. Said capes who mostly thought of it as a game.

Consider 16 year old Park Wu Wei, ABB recruit, who succumbed this morning to his 3rd degree burns from Lung's stray fireball in the fight two days ago. She could bet her career on whether Maker, Swarm, or even Armsmaster was aware of it, forget Lung. If this was a regular gang clash with some cops, the kid would probably at most have just a few broken bones.

And now with both Lung and Oni Lee under arrest, along with almost 30 ABB members, the Azn Bad Boys had lost the majority of their firepower. Already there were reports of E88 members invading their territories, picking fights and terrorizing citizens despite the heavier BPPD presence there. As usual, every silver lining has a cloud attached to it.

The Archer's Bridge Merchants weren't mobilized yet, but soon they'd also make a move to take over as much ABB territory as they could. This was looking like a grade A clusterfuck just waiting to happen. If she'd be able to even dampen the nigh inevitable gang war, she'd consider it an achievement.

To add insult to injury, the allegation of Thomas being Coil. There was no love lost between her and Thomas Calvert, not after what the man did back at Ellisburg, but he was a good strategist, and had Q level clearance. His sudden running off had been a cause for concern, she even had Dragon verify that he was indeed spotted going to Munich and entering a PMC office building. She already had his direct access handles revoked the day he sent that letter. Now after this bit of revelation, she would have to call for a security overhaul which promised to be a bureaucratic nightmare considering the amount of classified pies the man had his fingers in. Not to mention the silk-gloved reaming she was going to get from the Chief Director for not spotting it earlier.

In the midst of all this, there was the stack of transcripts and the reports she had in her hands, two more capes. Two more players of the collateral damage game. As if there was a lack of capes in this godforsaken city. And these two were the type who thought they could change the status quo in three quick moves, and sadly, had the power to attempt it.

People with superpowers are dangerous. Unstable people with superpowers are more dangerous. But apparently stable, competent, idealistic people with biological superpowers? That's the recipe for an S class impending disaster, the thought sent chills through her spine.

Emily masked her shudder with an exaggerated sigh as she set the papers down and looked up, her assistant had long learnt to read her moods, so the girl was quietly waiting at the desk, she gave her an 'out with it' stare.

The assistant handed her another report, "Ma'am, both Armsmaster and Miss Militia have been cleared after level-2 priority-2 M/S screening. Armsmaster has also cleared the extra medical scan, Dragon has assisted with her readings of him."

Emily nodded, "Send them in." The girl hurried off.

Emily stacked all the reports spread in front of her and set them aside neatly. Then she took a deep breath and composed herself, focusing on the ever present pain in her stomach, strange what things become a calming presence. It always pays to portray the image of being on top of things. Honestly, with all the goings on, it was the least she could do to avoid spreading the tension amongst her staff.

Armsmaster and Miss Militia arrived, "Director." "Ma'am." She gave them sharp nods and gestured at the chairs, all of them were brute-reinforced. They took the seats. She looked at Hannah.

"Miss Militia. Give me a quick summary of your overall impression of team _In venatus_." Of course they chose a fancy sounding latin name.

Hannah replied promptly, "Experienced, highly intelligent, strong sense of ethics, extremely dangerous but low chance of turning against us."

"What do you think of their ages?"

Hannah took a moment to think, "Their language and vocabulary is extremely matured. But something makes me think they're young adults."

"I agree." Emily nodded, the faintest touch of warmth in her voice. This is why she liked Hannah, one of the few capes whose people senses and skills hadn't been fucked over even after getting such dangerous powers. It was possibly due to her wards upbringing combined with the eidetic memory.

Emily turned to Armsmaster, the warmth gone from her voice, "Armsmaster, run me through their tentative power ratings and threat assessments with justification."

Colin's mild grimace vanished, Emily knew he hated repeating himself to give summaries after submitting reports, which did include concise summaries. This was much more up his alley, "Swarm, potential Class-A threat, Case 53. Main rating Master/Shaker 8 for control over insects over a large area.

"Subclassifications: Thinker 3 for being able to discern sounds and shapes wherever she has enough insects in her range. Stranger 3, because she doesn't need to form the body to be present somewhere. Breaker/Brute 2, because only something like a tactical nuke can destroy all insects in half a mile radius area simultaneously - though she doesn't have any physical strength to speak of. Finally, Striker 1 because her bugs have been known to carry other chemicals than venom, like paralytics and sedatives."

Armsmaster paused to let the information soak in, then spoke again, "Maker, potential Class A-threat. Dual main classifications, main power rating is Tinker 8, because he possibly can understand, reproduce and create designs for mass production of tinkertech by turning it into conventional tech. Also because he is a limited biotinker." His expression was definitely not pleasant while declaring that rating.

He continued, "Main threat rating as of now is Brute/Mover 7 because he can appear or disappear from anywhere, definitely move faster than peak-human, also can take a punch from a 16-foot transformed Lung without apparent damage and create a sword which could have easily decapitated Lung at that stage.

"Subclassifications: Striker 6 due to construct weaponry and contact-incapacitation - do note that he does not need direct skin contact, because he healed me through my gauntlets. Blaster 3 because of kinetic and electric blasts. Finally, Trump 3 because he can scan and study powers and possibly reproduce them, also because he claims to be Master/Stranger proof."

Armsmaster took a deep breath after finishing. Emily did not give any acknowledgement that she was listening throughout the explanation, because they would be wasted upon Colin. When she did speak, there was a definite edge to her voice, "Wouldn't you add a master rating to that?"

Armsmaster looked confused, "Maker? Why?" Miss militia's brow had a slight furrow too.

Emily's voice took up the consistency of ice, "Because apparently he can convince the leader of Protectorate ENE to break protocol and be a guinea pig for untested power application in a non emergency situation. That too a biotinker power."

Colin gulped, "It has been vetted by Panac-"

Emily slapped the desk before he could finish that, "I don't care!" She exploded, "I don't care if Scion writes a book about it! Unless our testing team clears it, it's untested!" Colin looked startled, the furrow in Hannah's brow had deepened.

Emily continued, "Do you realize he could have killed you on touch and vanished into thin air? Both of them can do that. He's known to be friends with Panacea, her vouching means little. They didn't even have an official psych eval report before that meeting. Do you realize what kind of a blow could that be to the Protectorate?"

Both Colin and Hannah looked uneasy, Emily didn't relent, "All a newly discovered cape needs to incapacitate a regional head of the Protectorate - is to sweet talk an independent cape to vouch for a power and then show up for registration?" Her tone softened, "Is that the kind of organization we work for?"

Colin looked subdued, "Apologies, director, I'll ensure this kind of breach doesn't happen again." Hannah's expression was neutral, eyes slightly wide, Emily hoped she understood the magnitude of threat this kind of behaviour represented.

Emily sighed, "Please do. And no, I'll not authorize Maker to scan everyone else right now. You'll undergo a full medical every week for the next four weeks, once we're sure there are no sleeper effects of Maker's healing, then I'll reconsider.

"Besides, he's already got multiple powers, no need to give him fodder to add a few more to his repertoire until we're sure of his motivations. I hope you do realize that both of them were obviously lowballing the extent of their powers. That's a given. And I did make a note of the odd response from the Think Tank. See if we can determine whether his M/S proof shielding also shields from the kind of thinkers that make up the Threat Assessment team in the Think Tank." Colin's mouth was agape, Hannah's eyebrows almost touched her hairline.

Emily refrained from rolling her eyes. This was the kind of logical inference that capes completely overlooked. They assumed powers to be infallible to begin with. She merely smirked and continued, "Regardless, we will keep him in the list for emergency healers during the four weeks." Her voice took a more calculative tone as she had a distant look in her eyes, "And with the kind of trouble that's brewing in the Bay, A lot can happen in four weeks." She noticed Miss Militia give an almost imperceptible nod.

Colin nodded, "Understood, director. Does that embargo also apply to the future tinkering sessions that Dragon and I have planned to include Maker in?"

Emily shook her head, "No, it doesn't, just make sure you don't work on any major offensive technology. And I would like to have a word with Dragon when she's free." Emily knew she could schedule a meeting just by emailing Dragon, but she also knew asking Colin to do it made it happen much faster.

"Understood." Colin sat still for a few moments, then nodded, "She's available now."

Emily gestured at the videoconferencing screen on the wall. "Put her on then." the screen turned on and Dragon's face was visible, "Hello Director, Miss Militia."

Emily didn't waste time on pleasantries, "Dragon, may I ask why the PRT is getting only 25% of the profits from the sales of this new chip instead of 50% as per contract on joint projects?"

Dragon smiled, it wasn't a very nice smile, "Because the contract is for joint projects between PRT funded Protectorate, Ward or Affiliate Tinkers, where we share half of our profits with the PRT. Maker is neither, and though the design is originally ours, he's the only one who can produce those chips, so we had to form a contract as soon as possible and I had to offer 50% profits to him. As per contract, you're getting half of our shares. And if I had not offered that contract on the spot, Maker would be free to produce and market those chips himself."

Dragon continued in a more conciliatory tone, "Though for future projects where I can take up the production too, I hope to give you better shares of profit. Even so, my projections on the profits of our continued work are estimated to boost PRT ENE's budget by at least 30% within the next quarter."

"That's good, provided Maker plays ball." There was a lot she could do with the expanded budget, maybe even bring the Bay to some semblance of order. But that was all speculation, there were more important things afoot, Emily turned to Armsmaster and Miss Militia, "I have some classified things to discuss with Dragon, you may excuse yourselves back to The Rig."

Both of them nodded and left. She turned back to the screen, "So what did you find out about Coil?"

Dragon's expression hardened, "About half an hour ago I received the detailed report from Swarm, Armsmaster and Miss Militia are copied, the PRT is not copied for obvious reasons. Compared to my independent investigation, it all matches up, Thomas Calvert is Coil. I also have been able to get six of his incarcerated mercs re-interrogated heavily, only two cracked, they're all professionals. Anyway, their testimony also matches up. He was apparently playing in much bigger leagues than we thought he was. He actually had a multi-level underground base! Swarm conjectures that he has some sort of selective precog power.

"In venatus tried to capture him but he escaped, leaving a body double at the base. I checked the location of the base given by the mercs, it was apparently registered last week, as a private property owned by a shell corp, which is cleverly linked to Invenatus Inc., Swarm and Maker's company. And a lot of illegal businesses linked to Coil have recently either turned legit or shut down. They actually have taken over his infrastructure and turned it legitimate, above board and airtight."

Emily grimaced, "So not only are those two are powerful, they also have the money and resources of a villain gang?"

Dragon shrugged, "More like ex villain gang, but yes. Coming back to Coil, Swarm has also provided the names of three PRT officers in different departments, two who have been moles for Coil and one for the E88. For now I've made sure that the report is marked classified and will not be circulated anywhere near those departments, but how do you wish to deal with these informers?"

Emily was almost grinding her teeth, right under her nose for so long. She took a few more deep breaths, "Dragon, those three, and any others you may find suspicious of being a mole or close to Calvert - I want their Random Quarterly M/S Screening to coincidentally fall tomorrow. I'll take care of the rest." Funny, this was a measure introduced by Calvert himself during one of the initial security consultations he did.

"Understood, director. If you wish I can also go through their private communications and draft questions for the interrogations."

Emily's lips twisted in an unconscious predatory smirk, "That'd be nice of you, please do so. I'll assemble a house-cleaning team."

Dragon matched the expression, "Of course director, anything else?"

Emily thought for a moment, "What do you think of the new capes' team name?"

Dragon smiled, "'In venatus'? It's a wordplay, common online translators give the translation from Latin as 'In the game' which is inaccurate, the actual translation means 'In the hunt' which is more to the tune of a vigilante team. However, _Zeros Invenatus_ is the biological name of a species of shore flies, insects commonly found in the beaches of Brockton Bay."

"Awful lot of thought they put into it." Emily mused, then her eyes narrowed, "And Dragon, just in case we need to bring them in quietly or make them join up. What kind of leverage do we have on them? Remember this is a classified discussion, so don't mind the unwritten rules."

Dragon's expression sombered, "Director, all we have is their connection to the two civilian families associated with the Winslow incident." Emily grimaced at the mention, that was another clusterfuck, she'd been glad to transfer out that bad apple, but the internal shitstorm was bad. She'd had to reinstate regular therapy sessions for all wards and mandate heavier oversight on their handlers, not an insignificant drain on the budget.

"Ahem." Emily was roused from her thoughts, Dragon's expression was almost admonishing now, "As I was saying, they've categorically refused protection for those families, and why not? Just the presence of Swarm in the area would spot any threats from blocks away. Apart from that, we have Maker's habit of breaking legs during takedowns. We can try to make a case of excessive brutality out of that, but the doctors have noted that the breaks are actually very carefully made to cause minimal pain unless someone tries to stand up. And they heal without any problems after about three months of being in a wheelchair with leg casts. Honestly the police find them much more docile to handle. But yes, we can make a case. We can also try to raid Coil's base, I doubt we'll find anything illegal there anymore, but it's worth a try."

Emily was looking somewhat hopeful, she really didn't want those two to be without proper oversight. One was a biotinker who was already experimenting on bugs, the other was... bugs. She couldn't think of any good things about that combination. However, her train of thought was slammed down by Dragon's next statement.

"But if you try to use any leverage on them, do remember that they're aware of both Shadow Stalker's and Coil's identities. And to quote Maker, they only honour the unwritten rules," Dragon made air quotes, "'because it's polite', honestly, director, as of now, they have much more leverage on the PRT than you have on them."

Emily looked like she'd swallowed a bug, "Just keep an eye on them Dragon, they're potentially very dangerous."

"No doubt they are dange-" The conversation was interrupted by the intercom buzzing.

Emily raised a hand at the screen and thumbed the button, "Yes?"

"Director! Oni Lee has broken out!"

"How?! Sitrep!"

"No casualties. No structural damage. Corporal Valdez was on feeding duty, the ABB broke into his home, held his wife and child at gunpoint and called Valdez to undo Lee's blindfold and point him to the nearest window. The corporal surrendered the moment he was sure his family was safe. He says the escape happened about five minutes ago. The ABB left his house about a minute ago."

"Shit. Dispatch troops to secure Valdez' house, and double the guard on Lung's cell."

"Copy that. Lung is in the underground brute reinforced cell under heavy sedation, sending extra guards anyway. Anything else director?"

"No. Keep me posted." Sadly, this drill wasn't new for her, every time they managed to capture a villain, four out of five times they broke out somehow, repeated requisitions for better containment facilities has always met budget constraints and fallen flat. At least there were no casualties or damage this time.

She turned back to the screen, "Can you track him?"

Dragon's face was turned away from the screen. "Already checking the feeds." she soon turned back to the screen, "Sorry director, he peppered the surrounding area with decoys, I couldn't track him after eight teleports."

Emily sighed and massaged her temples. She'd need to go for dialysis soon, this meeting had gone long enough.

* * *

A/N: Next up, one of the Dallons, any requests?


	53. Cutscenes 7-4 Amy

**Cutscenes 7.4 - Amy**

 _January 29, 2011, The Boat Graveyard - Brockton Bay, 3:17 PM_

Amy didn't think her first experience of solo flight would be accompanied by a mental 'Oops!' as she flew along an almost horizontal arc. Her enhanced perception still allowed her to savour the half-second ballistic flight while ignoring the radiating pain in her ribs from the punch that had sent her flying. In fact ignoring the pain was literally as easy as hitting a mental mute button. Her mind was even kind enough to supply the information that the damage was would easily self-heal in 7-10 minutes or so.

Her ruminations came to an abrupt stop as she hit the broadside of an old rusty cargo ship, but that wasn't the end of it, because she just plain punched through the already crumbling hull. Well, that would take slightly longer to heal.

Her eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness inside and her hand shot out to grab a metal pole inside the cargo hold, it seemed like the only thing inside the rusting derelict that wouldn't just crumble on touch. She spun around the pole, bleeding momentum as she dropped down to the damp, tilted floor.

"Shit!"

Amy looked to the source of the utterance and saw her assailant enter the freshly made hole in the hull and look around for her. Right, to anyone else this place is pitch dark, especially someone who just came from the outside.

She wasted no time and leveraged the same pole, almost bending it to jump and tackle her opponent, the two collided mid-air with a startled "Oof!" being the only admission from the floating menace. Amy, being much denser, easily won out the momentum war and the two of them shot out of the ship, creating another hole and landed with a skid and roll onto the wet sand in a tangle of limbs.

"Dammit! -huff- How can -huff- you be so heavy, -huff- and still be faster than me?" The golden nemesis said between exhausted pants from under Amy, not trying to get out or disentangle her limbs, her aura bracelet pulsing a slow rhythm in sync with her breaths. Both of them were in their undersuits (gifts from Swarm, the fabric was ridiculously tough yet amazingly comfortable and thin), and Vicky's was wet with sweat from their almost all-out spar.

Amy was too busy soaking in the multispectral sight, the hyper-detailed feel and the pheromone laden smell of the sweaty expanse of skin under her, the beautiful curves, rising and falling, clean despite the sand. To be honest, were it a month ago, she'd leap away from this situation with a red face and mumbled apologies. But the last month had been one of profound changes and lessons; her neurotransmitters were currently toggled off, making her mostly immune to the effects of adrenaline, oxytocin, testosterone and serotonin – that is, immune to panic, libido, and Vicky's aura. Though there was definite enjoyment and appreciation of the scene in front of her, it was thankfully devoid of pangs of crushing lust, guilt and longing.

She'd already realised that her orientation had nothing to do with the aura addiction, she was indeed attracted to females. She'd also come to terms with the fact that she'd never be able to view Vicky purely as a sibling. But without the mind-whammies of aura blasts, Amy could treat her like the hot friend that you definitely enjoy as eye candy but have no crippling desire to date and ruin the friendship. It was not very comfortable, nor easy, but compared to the amount of self-control required to just stay in the same room as Vicky a few months ago, this was as easy as healing common cold.

"Stop with the smug leer, you won, okay? Fine! I need to improve my reflexes before you upgrade me, I get it." Vicky relaxed and suddenly bucked her hips, dislodging Amy and turning the tables on her, "But I'm still stronger!"

Amy could have prevented it if she weren't lost in thoughts, so she just shrugged and smiled, being the bottom was fun too (blame Lisa for cultivating her perverted side). She bit her lip, her skin too strong to be broken by her own teeth anymore. It was probably time that she told Vicky, who'd definitely started looking for another boy to set her up with. Thank god Aveek was taken, or it'd be a nightmare with Vicky trying to play matchmaker, on the other hand, she could pretend to go out to see Aveek and go see Taylor instead, that girl was hot!

So was Lisa, but she was taken too. Though no one flirted back as well as Lisa, Amy had never asked what her power was, but it was definitely a thinker power, probably something like the 'right thing to say' power. Oh well, she wouldn't speculate, Lisa had showed her a huge amount of trust and she wasn't going to betray it.

Vicky finally sat up, still straddling Amy, who finally spoke, "Sis, I have something to tell you…"

"VICKY! AMY? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" The faint but distinct and entirely improbable shouting voice of Carol Dallon interrupted them.

Amy silently cursed herself for dropping her situational awareness, her senses were definitely sharp enough to detect someone approaching even over the general sound of the wind and the water if only she were paying attention. Vicky was trying her best to stammer out a reply while hastily getting up and dusting her undersuit, which was perfectly clean due to her forcefield anyway "M-Mom, what... What are you doing here?"

The costumed figure of Brandish approached them, she stood in front of them with hands on her hips, "I had an early day off from office and was driving home, expecting a nice home cooked lunch. Instead I hear on the police scanner that someone reported noises from the boat graveyard. I had to take a detour, change into costume and come over expecting some freshly triggered idiot - only to find my daughters scuffling? No, let me ask you, what are _you two_ doing here?"

* * *

 _January 29, 2011, Dallon Household - Brockton Bay, 8:17 PM_

Vicky's explanation about teaching Amy some basic self-defence hadn't convinced Carol at all. She'd been giving Amy suspicious glances since then. Amy could sympathize, growing teen she may be, but shooting up a couple inches, toning up and starting to look good (yes, she'd checked, she looked gooood!) within a matter of weeks would definitely warrant some suspicious glances – but with Carol, whose standard gaze itself was a suspicious glance, they were more scowling glares than anything else - it was grating on her nerves. She'd decided to come clean about everything to her family/team, but gathering up the courage for it was not an easy task. Asking Maker to be present for moral support was the best idea she'd had.

That stupid mind reading blue giant didn't accept her excuse about their next session at all and made her call everyone individually. She'd already spoken to Aveek and Taylor; both of whom had immediately caught on to her tone and asked if everything was alright, bloody bunch of psychics. Swarm was the sole gracious person who calmly accepted the invitation with her extra creepy buzzy voice. Only Lisa was left.

Lisa picked up in half a ring, "Hey there Doctor Dallon, how's tricks?"

"Hey Lisa, I'm doing well, and for your information, I'm a healer, not a doctor. Technica…"

"Noonono… You are a fully-fledged bona-fide doctor of medicine with degrees and shizzle now! Oh wait! They haven't told you yet!"

Amy smiled and shook her head despite her brow crinkling in confusion, this was a typical conversation with Lisa, "And who haven't told me what yet?"

Lisa giggled, "Oh this is so epic! They'll probably tell you in a few days, so since the patent for your miracle drug was published, more than a dozen high level research labs and independent professors have submitted research proposals and papers derived from the concepts of your medicine. Most of those papers are stuck at the peer-review stage, you have one guess as to why."

Amy facepalmed, "Because there's no one qualified enough in the field of genetics and medicine to review them?"

"Bingo! So they need an accredited expert in the field who at least has a Ph.D. in this field and has brains enough to understand how that drug works to be able to review those papers as a peer, and they're high profile and possibly game-changing papers! So, you, my dear healer, are a doctor now. MIT is going to award you an honorary Ph.D. in genetics, it's already being speculated in the academic circles, Brockton U doesn't want to lose face either, so they're going to award you an honorary M.D. too."

Amy gave an exaggerated sigh, but her grin didn't want to go away. Though it felt somewhat undeserved, this was a dream of hers fulfilled. Though she had no idea how Lisa even got to know these things. Thinker power, must be.

"Okay, now stop grinning and tell me how are you going to reward me for breaking the news to you?" Lisa prompted.

Ah, there was her cue, "Celebratory lunch? At my place?"

"Huh, sounds good, but what are you hiding?"

"Whaaaat?"

"... Amy."

"Agh! You're the same as your boyfriend and his cape friend, bloody mind-readers all of you, fine! Fine! I want moral support, I've decided to come clean to the team about the biomods, and maybe a few more things. I don't want to face the family without some friends at my side."

"Attagirl! See? So easy when you articulate, sure I'll be there. But Amy," Lisa sounded serious, "are you going to disclose the full range of your powers?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"No."

"What?"

"No. Just no, listen carefully Amy, firstly, your mother wouldn't take it well. Secondly, you live in the city whose PRT director is an Ellisburg survivor. Trust me Amy, you don't want to admit the full range of your powers to anyone within earshot of the Authorities."

Amy bristled, "Look, Lisa, I respect your opinion, but Vicky already knows, and there's no other way I can tell them about the augmentations. And how do you even know that Carol won't take it well? Is it a hunch or your power?" She couldn't help it.

She heard Lisa sigh over the phone, "Amy, my power would easily rate Thinker 8, it deduces information from minimum clues. I get to know all the uncomfortable truths, whether I want to or not. Trust me, you don't want to let Carol or the PRT know. Mark and Neil would possibly be fine with it, but Sarah would be scared - but accepting, as would the younger Pelhams. But Carol would go ballistic, she'd start thinking that you're following in your birth father's footsteps. And the PRT will panic their heads off and try their best to push you into the Wards and shackle you the best they can."

Amy was trembling… "Wh- What do you know about my father? And what do I tell everyone then? Do I go back to healing people piecemeal again and not use my powers for anything else? Do you even realize how stifling it is?"

"When I say I do realize, I mean it sweetie. Seriously, we're here for you okay? I'll tell you all I know about your birth parents and even help you research more. But first things first – here's what you could tell the others…"

* * *

 _February 11, 2011, Dallon Household - Brockton Bay, 10:08 AM_

Eric and Crystal were the last of the Pelhams to arrive. Once everyone was seated in the living room, Lady Photon spoke first, "So, Panacea, (they were all in costume, as per tradition), congratulations on your first time calling for a team meeting, you have the floor."

Amy nodded and took a deep breath, Vicky squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She kept quiet for a few moments, nodded once more and started to speak. "I've called for a team meeting because I have a number of announcements, some for the family and some for the team." Everybody made assenting/anticipatory movements, she continued, "Um, first one is for the family, especially Vicky, Crystal, and Eric – please stop trying to set me up with boys. I… I think I like girls."

There was a moment of befuddled silence, which Vicky broke, "Oh… Oh! Ohhh! So that's why…"

"Yes." Amy put a stop to that. Crystal was bobbing up and down in the typical excitement of someone having laid their hands on the juiciest piece of gossip and having no idea what to do about it. Eric gave Amy a wink and a thumbs up, he possibly knew, after all he was the one usually trying to dissuade the sisters from playing matchmaker after the first few failures. The parents had that look where they probably had something to say but no idea what it was.

"Ahem," Carol cleared her throat, then gave her most professional sniff, "I believe that's your prerogative, and as a family we will support you. Hopefully you have enough sense to stay within limits and keep your relationships low-key." She ended with a resolute nod. Amy was reminded that despite being a paranoid shrew and a terrible mother to her, Carol Dallon was a staunch social activist and extremely sensitive about these things. She nodded furiously as unexpected warmth stirred in her even from that backhanded approval. Mark gave her a 200 watt smile, "We're happy for you baby girl." Sarah and Neil just nodded and smiled along.

Amy finally understood why Lisa asked her to open with this one, however out of context it seemed. But that didn't mean she needed to dwell on it anymore, "Right, so that was that, on to the next agenda." She was more than eager to change the topic, "As you all would have known, Vicky and I have been associating with another group of independents."

Lady Photon perked up, " _In Venatus,_ right?"

"Huh?" It was Amy's turn to be surprised.

"Maker and Swarm right? That's what they're calling themselves." Sarah helpfully provided.

Glory Girl nodded along, "Yeah, Gallant told me, how'd you know?"

Lady Photon raised an eyebrow, "Unlike you kids, I read the information packets that PRT shares with us. Anyway, they're rated pretty high."

"Yeah? What're the ratings?" Amy was curious.

"Let me see…" Sarah took out her cell phone, "Hmm… Tinker 8, with Brute/Mover 7, Striker 6, Blaster 3, and Trump 3 for Maker and for Swarm it's Master/Shaker 8, Thinker 3, Stranger 3, Breaker/Brute 2 and Striker 1."

There were surprised looks everywhere, Manpower let out a low whistle, while both Flashbang and Laserdream were making impressed noises. Shielder blurted out "Whoa… that's almost like our whole team combined." Carol's standard scowl intensified.

Amy couldn't help but snort, Vicky let out a guffaw. Carol frowned at them, "What?"

Amy shook her head, "Both must have been lowballing with the PRT, Maker's is close, but Swarm's is way low." Carol's scowl deepened further.

Amy continued, "So, yes, they're very powerful capes. I believe we would do good to have cordial relations with them as a team. Does everybody agree?"

There were nods across the room, Amy ploughed ahead, "So I have scheduled a meet and greet with them today, that's alright I hope."

Carol was definitely going to say something, but Mark was the one to respond, "This is your show and tell Panacea, as long as they're not hostile I believe we should have no problems with it." Almost everybody looked at Mark with no small amounts of surprise. Right, this was the first meeting after Mark's treatments were changed by Amy. He hadn't been this confident or verbose since before his injury. Carol seemed indecisive whether she should be put out or happy.

Manpower clapped Mark's shoulder, "Absolutely, God knows we could use the help of more heroes, the climate doesn't look good after the gutting of the ABB." Laserdream added with a nod, "That's true, word is that Oni Lee has skipped town after breaking out, but that simply means the other Gangs are gearing up to rout the now headless ABB."

Everyone was looking at Crystal with wide eyes, she shrugged, "What? Just because I don't participate much doesn't mean I'm ignorant about the climate in the streets."

"Huh. Color me impressed sis. So when are they coming?" Shielder asked, turning back towards Amy.

Amy shrugged, "They're waiting for me to give them the okay. Shall we?" She took out her cellphone and sent a text.

"Wait, this meeting needs to be more discreet, our house is already monitored by cape geeks and paparazzi, even if they fly in it'll be a media circus!" Brandish objected. Lady photon shook her head, it was established... She really was the only one who read the PRT reports.

Glory Girl smirked and floated to the emptier side of the living room, Amy wasn't much for dramatics, but Vicky lived for these moments, "Good thinking Brandish, which is why they'll be using neither the door nor the roof… Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you…" She swept her arm theatrically, "IN VENATUS!"

Everybody pretty much held their breaths.

A cricket chirped somewhere, Laserdream let out a snicker. Nothing else happened.

Vicky shook her fist, "Aw come onnnn…" that was when reality shattered into blue shards and they appeared.

The five of them were standing in a line, Maker in the centre, Taylor and Aveek at the extreme left and right. To Maker's left stood Swarm in all her creepy awesomeness, though she was using tamer insects today, lots of butterflies and stuff. It was the person to the right of Maker and left of Aveek was the one that gave Amy pause.

She was a brunette in a black and purple cat-suit, with purple streaks in her hair and a black domino mask with a glowing purple eye on the forehead, even her actual irises were purple… This was definitely a new cape.

But those ridiculously idealized proportions, that utterly smug grin, and the way she winked at Amy, and the obvious missing person in the group, that was Lisa! And the disguise seemed trivial in hindsight, of course Maker could change her hair and eye colours.

"Waaah!" As usual, Vicky yelped indignantly at the yet-again unexpected appearance and tried to playfully punch Maker – who dodged effortlessly. The rest of New Wave had half-shifted into combat stances at that exchange, but that tension was diffused when Vicky's immediate follow up was to glomp Taylor. When she disengaged, she looked around and saw Lisa for the first time. She blinked twice, frowned, and then widened her eyes as she got the same wink and possibly had the same realization as Amy did.

Though Glory Girl was often reluctant to use it, she was the owner of a decent intellect, a trait that Laserdream shared too. Probably because being very attractive females, they rarely had to use their intellect for most social exchanges.

Vicky pointed at Lisa and was definitely going to blurt something unnecessary, Amy put her hand on Vicky's mouth and hurried out an introduction, "New Wave, meet _In Venatus_ , that's Maker, this is Swarm, and that is…" She pointed at Lisa, who immediately chipped in, "Call me Minerva, and these two bookends are our minions."

Aveek bopped Lisa on the head, "Minions sound too evil. We're more like your handlers."

Taylor piped in, "Ignore them please, that's Aveek and I'm Taylor, we're just here as friends of Amy."

"Well, first time she's invited friends home. Can't fault that." Mark responded jovially. Amy noticed that by now the bout of sudden levity and informality had lowered everyone's guards, everyone except for Carol that is. But yeah, Lisa's timing was impeccable.

They all took seats and the adults had a quick meeting accompanied with a light lunch (It somehow was simultaneously cute and terrifying to watch Swarm eat). It was all the usual cape stuff; sharing intel, contacts, extracting promises of mutual help and arrangements for a few joint patrols. Lisa had introduced herself as an analytics/combat thinker. Amy had surreptitiously checked while greeting everyone, Taylor, Lisa, even Aveek had been upgraded with some of her basic augments, she definitely kept quiet on the fact that even the 'handlers' of _In Venatus_ were easily brute/mover 3.

Brandish was the only one who remained defensive throughout the meeting, but Lady Photon balanced her out. After the formalities were over and logistics hashed out, Amy took the opportunity during a lull in the post-lunch conversation to get back to agenda, "I also invited these guys here because they're relevant to my next announcement."

She had everybody's attention again, she pointed at Aveek, "As I've mentioned, Aveek was the one who originally suggested the idea for the Panacea Pill (that's what they're branding it as). And as you also know, I'm donating 30% of my patent royalty from that to New Wave."

Everybody nodded enthusiastically, the projected 30% was actually a huge amount, almost four times what they currently made from donations. Brandish grimaced, she'd suggested donating it all to New Wave, but Dev had actually stepped in and mentioned that it would be unethical to do so until Amy was 18 and able to decide that for herself.

"Following some more suggestions from Aveek, I experimented a bit and discovered a new aspect of my power. It appears that my healing doesn't stop at bringing people back to normal health. Apparently, whatever improves someone's capability is also considered healing by my power."

"What does that exactly mean?" Of course Carol was the one to push the question.

"It means she can improve someone beyond human limits, right?" Asked Manpower.

Amy nodded, "Yes, and to experiment, I planned out some augmentations which my power still considered as healing. Then, as repayment for my teaching Maker about healing and biology, he agreed to apply some of my augmentations on me. Of course I couldn't have chosen anyone else to be the guinea pig."

"What. Have. You. Done?!" Carol was standing, visibly trying to control her anger.

Amy was taken aback at the venom on her voice. "Well, it wasn't as if I enjoyed being the squishiest member of the team. So yes, when you caught us last week, I was testing out my augments sparring with Glory Girl. I'm glad to mention that I'd easily rate a Brute/Mover 5, thinker 2, blaster 2 - apart from my original striker 9." Panacea finished to collective oohs and aahs.

"No! Absolutely not. You'll not go into combat, violence is not your path!" Carol was indeed trying to calm down, but her words were still unnecessarily forceful, "You're the team healer, everybody respects you for that, it's our job to keep you out of danger. You're not a combat cape. Maker, I'll trust you to bring Panacea back to normal, and Amy, you'll stop further research in this line - you have no idea how bad the fallout for this can be!"

Maker shrugged, "With all due respect Brandish, that decision is Panacea's to make."

"Mom, calm down. If Amy wants to fight…" Vicky implored.

Carol cut her down, "Amy doesn't need to fight. No, no, violence doesn't become her!" She turned to Maker, "And the decision is indeed mine, as her mother and guardian I implore you…"

Amy couldn't take it anymore, the sneer on her face was completely involuntary "So now you're my mother? For all these years I toil away healing people and you don't bother even patting my back! And the first time I find something I want to do - your action as my mother is to put a stop to it? And even if you want me to avoid fighting, why on earth would you want me to get rid of something that protects me, do you wish me harm? Mother?"

Carol was sputtering in fury, she began pacing and rambling, completely unmindful of the others, "No, no, you're not to fight! You shouldn't have combat powers! You... you'll become like him… No, you just can't be trusted with an ability like that…"

"What?!" Amy almost screeched and was about to get up and shout at Carol, but Lisa put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, Amy hadn't even sensed her approach. She felt two more hands on her and looked around to see Aveek and Taylor flanking her too. They gave her reassuring nods. She felt just a tad bit better.

Carol continued muttering, "This will not do. You can't turn out like him. I won't let you become a villain! I'm your mother, if required I'll take legal measures... Don't tempt..."

"Brandish." Swarm was the one who spoke up, her voice was unsettling enough for Carol to shut up and listen, "Please refrain from such measures. I have already located Amy's birth records in City Hall, your forgery of her adoption papers will not be taken well by the bar."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Carol's face turned vicious and she almost lunged at Swarm, who was absolutely unperturbed. Mark stood up and stopped Carol by her shoulders, "Brandish! You're out of line!" Never had Amy heard Mark take up such a tone of command, Carol reeled as if slapped! Mark calmly added, "Please go and have a drink of water and let's all cool down. Okay?"

"What? Mark! Y-You know what I'm talking about." Carol seemed almost panicked.

Sarah got up and grabbed her sister by the elbow. "Come on Carol, let's go get a drink." She dragged her towards the kitchen.

Mark turned towards Amy, "I'm so sorry for that, cupcake. Please don't judge her too harshly for that. She's just reacting to some bad memories…"

Amy just sighed and shook her head, "Mar… Dad… I can't go on like this. I've been trying so hard…"

Lisa, no, Minerva interrupted, "No, it's not Amy's fault, and as far as my power says, it's not even Mrs. Dallon's fault. Flashbang, you realize that wasn't just a random bout of irrationality? That was a full blown panic attack. Though she handled it quite well, but she's definitely suffering from paranoid personality disorder. Maker?"

Maker nodded and opened some blue panes in front of him, "My scanner has an excellent passive scan for psychological issues, let me see. Yes, yes, moderate paranoia, turned severe when Panacea mentioned combat augmentations. As far as my scans say, even Lady Photon suffers from a much milder version of the same. Very mild, but she'd do well with some psychiatric attention too. Do know where this is coming from?" He asked Mark and Neil.

Flashbang shared a glance with Manpower, "Unfortunately we do. We just didn't realize it was this bad."

Sarah came back with Carol in a few minutes, the latter looking visibly unsettled, her eyes red and puffy. She generally prided herself on her composure, this must have been a blow to her. She turned to Swarm first and stiffly said, "My apologies." Swarm just nodded regally.

Carol took a few shaky breaths and turned to Amy, "I… I'm sorry, I got carried away and said something I didn't mean. No I absolutely don't wish you harm. And... and no need to change anything now, we'll talk about your powers later and decide..."

Amy shook her head, "Actually, no, we will not. Carol, you need therapy, and we can't continue like this." Carol looked outraged for a moment but then one look from Sarah and she sighed and collapsed into a couch, shrinking into herself, eyes distant. Amy sighed too, "I'd have done it next year for college anyway." She steeled herself and turned to Mark, "Dad, I'm sorry, I know you've been trying hard, but I'll be moving out in a few days." Mark just gave a resigned nod.

"But what about us? What will happen to New Wave?" Vicky wailed.

"Don't be a drama queen Vicky, I'm not quitting the team! I will of course offer to augment you guys too to begin with. I'll even start joining on patrols at times. And as for moving out, well, Eric moved out last year, Crystal will move out this fall, it's not that big a deal."

Lisa smiled like a chess master making a move and leaned in towards her conspiratorially, "Hey Amy, you know my apartment is too big for me, help a girl out and move in with me for now?"

Amy gave a grateful nod, even Vicky perked up, she remembered the apartment from when the four of them had spent a girl's-night-in a few weeks ago, and it _was_ a huge apartment indeed.

Lady Photon nodded, "I'd have suggested moving in with us for a while, we really wouldn't want you to be by yourself, but I guess a friend works too." She gestured at Lisa, "She _is_ a friend of yours, I'm assuming."

Amy and Lisa both smiled and nodded at that. Sarah Pelham sighed and murmured almost to herself, "Always wondered if it'd be better had I taken you in instead of Carol." Lisa shook her head, "You'd never know, maybe the other two would've alienated her." Sarah looked up at Lisa, who simply tapped her temple and mouthed the word 'thinker'.

The situation wound down from there, the cousins expressed their solidarity, uncle Neil asked to spar with her later, Mark lamented not being there for her, post which she agreed to have at least a few meals a week with him. He shouldn't suffer for Carol's failings.

Lisa asked Amy if she'd like to visit the apartment once and figure things out. She gladly accepted, anything to get out of that awkward situation. Vicky wanted to join them, and Maker agreed to give them a lift.

Amy glanced one last time at Carol before leaving, she was still sitting there, her head in her hands. Amy thought of saying something conciliatory before leaving, but discarded the thought from fear of setting her off again. Carol really needed to deal with her issues before they could even have a meaningful conversation.

Maker created a door-sized blue glowing box/portal thingy and gestured at it. Swarm nodded, got up from her seat, said her goodbyes, walked into the box and didn't walk out the other side, Minerva, Taylor and Aveek followed.

Vicky circled around the box, "This one's new, we just go in?"

Maker nodded, "You won't feel a thing, just walk through. You can fly too but that makes it more difficult for me."

Vicky shrugged, then stopped floating and walked through.

Finally, Amy said her goodbyes, promised her cousins that she'd call them to help with the moving, then approached the box, Maker gave her an 'in-you-go' head tilt, and she walked into the glowing blue box/door/portal thingy. It was a very bright blue inside.

She walked out the other side just fine, but she looked around, and realized she wasn't home anymore…

They were in one of the two spare bedrooms in Lisa's apartment, but her friends and sister were there, welcoming her.

Amy smiled and looked around, and realized she was home after all.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have no excuses.


	54. Cutscenes 7-5 Multiple

**Cutscenes 7-5 Multiple**

 _February 15, 2011, ABB Territory - Brockton Bay, 04:02 PM_

Kevin 'Kefuu-kun' Jones did his best to appear nonchalant while walking past the police line, glad that his sunglasses were on and his hood was down, he was at his anonymous best. This was the fourth establishment of theirs that was hit, and as far as he knew there was only one more brothel left for the ABB prostitution ring to be completely dismantled. Honestly, he was quite glad that it was being dismantled, he personally never agreed with these activities of the gang.

His job in the Azn Bad Boys was simple, he worked at the local bakery right opposite the BPPD 14th precinct station. He was to listen to all the gossip from the local policemen who frequented the place and feed intel to the ABB. His ability to appear as a white guy with sunglasses on and Asian with them off was extremely helpful. Besides, as a cutesy looking mixed-race male, in this neighbourhood, Kevin was a completely ubiquitous fixture - and cops on breaks talked about anything and everything. Their loose lips have allowed him to warn his comrades about drug busts more than once.

Apart from being simple his job was also quite redundant right now, everyone knew what was happening. The Undersiders were hitting each of their profitable establishments, robbing them blind, and pushing them to try to retaliate. The moment they'd try to hit back, The Undersiders would vanish like the slippery eels they were and the retaliators would find themselves surrounded by the police. Twice now he had tried to phone in a warning, both times figuring out it was already too late and said drug dens or gambling houses were already under attack and everybody was too busy trying to defend themselves or catch the thieving capes. Today was not shaping up to be a good day for him or the ABB.

Currently, the ABB was gutted and capeless. Kevin heard via the grapevine that Lee had apparently contacted one of the gang chiefs after breaking out, said he was going further inland to arrange for Lung's extraction, they were apparently supposed to hold the fort. How did the demon expect them to hold the fort against the Undersiders, the Empire and, above all, the heroes? Especially the Blue Devil and the Bug Youkai? Those two had combined forces with New Wave and were completely destroying the heavily armed security around each brothel and delivering the 'masseuses' to safety.

The brothels, or 'massage parlours' as they were always referred to, were handled by an elite, insular group even amongst the ABB, because that business was supposed to be both lucrative and prestigious. Kevin honestly was more than glad to not be involved in that. Like a lot of other ABB members, he thought kidnapping girls and forcing them into prostitution was extremely dishonourable - though in the end these were thoughts never to be voiced. Even now, it was commonly accepted that Lung would be breaking out and he'd rip apart any dissenter to pieces.

He was jostled out of his musings as he collided with something, or rather, someone. His sunglasses fell off his face and clattered down the street. As he bent down to pick them up, the person he collided with picked them up and handed it to him, "Sorry man, you alright there?" His hindbrain was sending frantic panic signals but it was too late, he looked up at the face of the person holding the glasses. And he froze.

Shaved head, check, neck tattoo, check, narrowing eyes, check. Kevin glanced around to confirm he'd not lost his way, no, closer to the edge, perhaps, but this was ABB territory alright. What was the E88 doing here?

He tried to slip away but a meaty hand caught him at the shoulder and slammed him to the wall. "Well well well, look what we have here!" There were two of them! "Huh, a chink trying to pose as a respectable gentleman. What has the world come to?!"

Backed into a corner, he snarled, "This is not your area, what are you doing-" His face snapped to one side as a punch from the one holding him rattled his head.

The other guy put his finger to his lips, "Now now my slanty friend, that's not how you speak to your betters. This is our area if we say it is, your previous management being, heh, indisposed. No one's coming to help you. Hence, either you pass the message, or become the message." He raised his hand in another punch, Kevin, already dazed, flinched and closed his eyes in preparation for the oncoming beating.

The punch didn't reach him, but the sound of both of his assailants screaming did, as did a strange, humming buzz. The pressure on his shoulder eased, he opened his eyes to see a few bees (wasps actually, he later realized) on the E88 men. And more bees were arriving by the minute. That was more than enough of a cue for him, he legged it.

As he turned around the corner of the block, he took a moment to catch his breath, and peeked around once to see the fully formed body of the Bug Youkai hovering above the two downed Empire goons. "Serves them right." He muttered.

"It does." The deep voice came from behind him. Kevin's blood almost froze. Today wasn't looking like a good day for him at all. "Kuso!" He muttered and slowly turned around to face the glowing blue monstrosity. Maker, as the demon called himself, nodded at him. "Hello, Kefuu-kun, we need to talk."

* * *

 _February 19, 2011, Merchant Territory - Brockton Bay, 07:13 AM_

Adam Mustain, thirty-something mid-tier entrepreneur, lauded for organising and investing in all the cart-based vendors of North Brockton Bay, providing employment to a lot of homeless folks, got out of his Italian sports car and waved to a nearby food cart vendor, flashing him a flawless grin. This was one of the northernmost streets where that car would not look out of place. Just north of this gentrified locality were the ruins of the business districts which collapsed when the train yards further north became a shell of its former glory due to the post-Leviathan drop in shipping affecting the docks.

The food cart vendor waved back in good spirits, Mr. Mustain's company had loaned him seed money for that cart at almost no interest, with the assurance that the repayment terms will remain comfortable as long as he didn't talk about the parcels that he picked up with his daily supplies and gave to whoever guessed the numbers on the parcels right. He was not a fool, he did understand that it was definitely not something very legal in the packages, but honestly he didn't care. Caring for legalities was the luxury of folks whose meagre livelihoods weren't dependent upon it.

Adam, quite aware of the vendor's sentiment, walked into his office, nodded at the receptionist and went into his cabin, then walked into his private bathroom. Where the first thing he did was to take off the fake teeth.

Behind the office building, the garage door of an adjacent building opened up and out rolled a muscle car so loaded with bling that its spinners had spinners. Said car drove up through the ruins into a warehouse almost adjacent to the trainyards. The car screeched to a halt, the warehouse shutter dropped, two glassy eyed sentries jolted awake and pointed their improvised firearms at the car quite reluctantly.

The car door opened and out came Skidmark, leader of the Archer's Bridge Merchants, "Finally! You dumbfucks remembered! Just like I said, if you see any-fuckin'-body else than me or Squealer coming through here, fill their ass with hot lead." Skidmark said, flashing a dirty grin revealing his blackened, corroded teeth. The grunts nodded eagerly.

Skidmark went up a set of stairs, nodding and yelling cheerful profanities at other, high ranking non-cape members of the Merchants lounging around. As an act of solidarity, he shared a pinch of high quality white powder with everyone, engaging in a well practiced sleight of hand replacing his own pinch with a specifically diluted version. As soon as he entered the so called 'office' upstairs, his cheerful and crass demeanour melted away to reveal a pensive expression.

The room, where the capes of the gang would usually gather, was almost empty, It was too early for any cape with a lax lifestyle to be awake, the sole exception being the cape who had originally called him citing an emergency, Skidmark frowned at him, "So what's the big deal?"

Trainwreck, with much less mechanical junk attached to him than usual, was looking spooked. He gulped, "I… I woke up and this was in front of me." His arm hissed, clanked and held up a card in front of Skidmark.

Skidmark took the card, it was a plain white card, on it was printed in clear words:

'If your gang does anything more than selling drugs to adults who actually want them. We will have a problem with you.'

His face first twisted into a snarl of fury, who the fuck was this trying to dictate terms to him? He opened his mouth to shout at Trainwreck.

But Before he could work up his anger, his slightly narcotic-addled but still sharp mind caught up with one particular detail of the card, his snarl vanished and his face ashened with worry.

The writing was glowing blue.

* * *

 _February 23, 2011, Medhall Building - Brockton Bay, 10:21 PM_

Max Anders, CEO of Medhall, recently back from a not-so-successful tour of Europe where he had a heated exchange with certain powerful people about his failure to get the Panacea Pill contract, was frowning. But the cause of that frown, more than the humiliating exchange, was what he saw as he looked at a projected map in the penthouse boardroom of the Medhall building. The map of Brockton Bay was overlaid with black patches denoting Empire 88 territory, as the date on top cycled through the last few weeks, the edges of the black patches turned grey and a few of them even disappeared.

Max's frown intensified the more he looked at the display, with a dignified snort of disgust, he turned towards his two lieutenants, "James, Brad, what is happening? We hadn't faced this uncouth a scenario in our territory since Allfather's passing!"

Unlike Max, his lieutenants were in costume, while Hookwolf could manage no more than a frustrated growl, Krieg sighed and answered, "It can't be helped, Kaiser, we're being pincered. Swarm and Maker are still at it, and now they've joined forces. They've been blocking any and every inroad attempt to capture the ABB areas. I've honestly been thinking of showing up in force but I've been waiting for you. The other side is being attacked by the Travellers, this new vigilante group who've taken up Coil's area, word is out that Coil's been disposed off. The trouble is that all of these attacks are on our grunts, our cape patrols and haunts are untouched, but faith in Empire is at an all time low in the streets."

Hookwolf grunted, "Hrmf, I would've taught 'em a lesson by now, but I've seen the vids, and trying to take on someone who toys with Lung is no joke. But these other kids are new, I've been itching to take them a peg down, show them the ropes, but Kriegg and Victor asked me to wait."

Kaiser nodded, "Good choice. Victor couldn't join us at such a short notice, but his intel from PRT moles tells us that Coil was taken down by In Venatus, or as you know them, Swarm and Maker, hence it falls to reason that the Travellers, who're an A-class ex-villain group last spotted in Boston," Max raised an eyebrow at Brad, who had the decency to look abashed at his ignorance, Max continued, "are somehow allied with In Venatus, just like the Undersiders, our mole confirms, who're currently busy destroying any semblance of the ABB, bless their souls. This pincer attack is definitely not coincidental, it's a trap, and you showing up to teach them a lesson would have sprung the trap."

Hookwolf grimaced, "Then what do we do? Sit around like a bunch of pussies? Or try to team up with that Nigger trash Skidmark? Their bunch is the only organised gang remaining!" Krieg frowned and put a hand on Brad's shoulders, Hookwolf was a respected colleague, but James did not agree with his demeanour at all.

Max's eyes hardened, "Calm yourself, springing the trap is the right idea, but if they're coordinating in the background, the only way to go is overwhelming Force, let's show them why the Empire will not submit to a few jumped up gangs. Call a meeting, all of our members, we'll be going to war."

* * *

 _February 23, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 11:07 PM_

Dev gaped at his brother with mock surprise, "It's been more than two weeks since your faux teleportation trick, and you tell me there's nothing new to dazzle me anymore? What happened to your fancy shmancy 'unlimited potential' huh?" He enjoyed the the look of incredulous irritation on Aveek's face. His cousin, whom he rescued from Leviathan when they were children, has been his brother, his son, in rare moments his parent… and now his employer.

Having borne the burden of survival of Aveek and him on his own shoulders since his teens had given rise to his nihilistic demeanour. Working with capes at an early age had added a whole new level of savvy and nonchalance towards weird shit. But despite all that he would still have called the last two months both the weirdest and the most wondrous time of his life. His brother turned out to be some new kind of cape, Dev himself had a near-death experience, then he got to play around with sums of money he never dreamed of. Now he had worked with THE NUMBER MAN on a few books of accounts! There was also a very recent enquiry about mechanical items crafted to perfection, from an alias which he was sure had links to the Boston villain scene, most probably the Ambassadors...

Aveek's whining tone cut through his musings, "Aw c'mon, the gains have started plateauing, you know very well that the initial rush of", he made air quotes, " 'dazzling' things was not sustainable, and progress is supposed to further slow down from now. Analyzing whatever I could of the Travellers and other cape powers that I managed to scan revealed some interesting methods which are a bit brute-force science and way too energy intensive to use for me... So that was a bust. Maybe I get something new after we take care of E88. But that doesn't mean everything needs to be 'dazzling'! There has been substantial inroads made!"

Dev made a 'go on' motion and arranged his face into the most unimpressed facade possible, he had an image to maintain. Aveek's tone perked up, "So I've raised my effective radius to 20 metres, persistence to almost 2 minutes after leaving my control. And I've finally managed to raise programming high enough to start making sense of the macros from the Macros and Scripting menu! It's very interesting! It's like a high level scripting language which, using its own data structures and handles, can be represented using any commonly kno..."

"Yap yap yapyapyap..." Dev mimed his hand opening and closing, "Nerd out with your nerd friends, what does it result in?"

Aveek frowned at him, "Spoilsport! It results in me having Ten stable copies all over the world whose mana cost is walled off from my available pool with a macro, which means..."

Dev completed the thought, "Ah, which means more faux teleport locations, permanently running parallel minds and clone bodies, and true immortality for you, and subsequently us, unless Earth Bet blows up or something. Right?" Dev nodded, that was impressive indeed, though he'd be damned if he showed it. Aveek didn't need a bigger head.

Aveek mock-scowled at him, "Why do you even ask if you can figure it out yourself? Huh!" He got up in a huff and started to stomp away towards the kitchen, but suddenly froze halfway. His face showed momentary surprise but then went rigid and mechanical.

Dev noticed it and tensed too, "What? Did you just switch to another body somewhere?"

Aveek turned to fully face him, then blankly nodded, "Um, the Simurgh, it's beginning to descend."


	55. Angry Bird 8-1

**Angry Bird 8.1**  
 _February 23, 2011, Lisa's Apartment - Brockton Bay, 11:23 PM_

 **AI assist alert!**

 **TransDimensional Scan detected!**  
 **TransDimensional Scan examined.**

 **Processing results archived - _ZizTelemetryPassive01_**

 **Response generated.**

 **Simulating prepared response as per anonymity protocol!**  
 **Stop simulating?**

 **[STOP/Y]**

"Shit, shitshitshit SHIT!" Lisa's voice echoed through her bedroom walls as Taylor and I exited the ID in her living room, the girls must have gotten the same anonymity protocol alert too. Did that mean it was here already?

"She came here?" Taylor echoed what I was thinking.

Lisa came out of her bedroom shaking her head, phone in hand, "No, it's still descending from LEO, acceleration isn't stable yet, so no one knows where it'll drop." She was already wearing her 'Minerva' avatar, while Taylor was in her own Swarm themed armor, I was in Maker mode too. Lisa looked at me, "Global reach. She was sandbagging all along. Or maybe she's only sensing, and the telekinesis is limited, I need more data!"

I put a hand on her shoulder, "We will get more data, let's see where it drops first."

"Where what drops first?" Vicky floated in from Amy's room, blearily rubbing her eyelids, must have come to sleep over, Amy herself came out too, looking far more alert.

Taylor replied them, "Guys, the Simurgh is descending, you might want to join up with your team."

"Fuck! Are you shitting me?!" Vicky cursed, and then performed a flawless double take when she noticed who was speaking, "Taylor? Is that you? What're you doing costumed up?"

"She's remote logistics and support, don't worry, we're not liabilities. Maker has us Zizproofed. Go, Sarah will be calling you anytime now." Lisa supplied, eyes still glued to the EB monitoring App that Dragon shared with all PRT and Guild Affiliates.

Amy nodded, she wasn't surprised, after all she did play a supervisory role when we added the latest biomods to our civilian bodies. Taylor's body was easily Brute 3 not counting Gamer stats. Without the threat of the Feathery Terror's mindraping, Brute 3 was good enough. She grabbed Vicky, "Hm. Take care you guys, see you at the staging area when it's announced. Vicky, let's go."

After that it was a game of hurry up and wait, Glory Girl and Panacea left via the balcony, I meditated while Taylor took out her dual phones and got busy with them. After about 15 minutes, Lisa looked up, "The acceleration has been steady for the last 5 minutes or so, if it continues, the Simurgh will make a descending orbit and a half and end up somewhere in Australia, most likely somewhere around Canberra in about half an hour. Taylor, message me points of interest?"

Taylor's hands sped further up on the phones. I set my clone body in Sydney running towards Canberra, that'd take a while, but I'd hopefully make it in time. The other two Endbringers couldn't be pre-empted like this but the winged menace generally (but not always) didn't deviate once it locked a course, and it could also be tracked directly with telescopes, so the monitoring and prediction algorithms for Ziz were more accurate than the Salamander or the Rockosaurus.

Lisa looked up again, "Here!" she messaged me the details of a research lab, where they're working on a project to cure some major diseases following the method of Amy's pills. Retroviruses…

"Damn." I gulped, "Are you sure this is it?"

Lisa gave me a grim nod, "Most probable target, it'd be easy even for me to release a hellvirus from there, let alone the Simurgh… I'll let Dragon Know."

I started to meditate and simultaneously checking out the topography, arrangement of EB shelters and other points of interest around the area she mentioned. The combination of the 'emulation environment' of the Macros and Scripting menu, combined with my high bandwidth smartphone, and the Mana-Computer Interface skill, meant I had a faster-than-anything computer in my mind, which I still had to operate like any other computer instead of some magic technomancy interface… But more importantly, it meant - A Browser in my head! Ha! Greatest thing since any kind of bread! Combined with a dedicated mind-thread for it, it was a font of relevant information, and memes, and so many funny videos, and weird ones…

Ahem. Onto more serious matters. My clone body was almost near Canberra by now, Lisa told me Dragon is taking relevant action based on the tip she gave. The lab in question should be getting torched any moment now, their experimental data already safe offsite.

 **AI assist alert!**

 **TransDimensional Scan detected!**  
 **TransDimensional Scan examined.**

 **Processing results archived - _ZizTelepathyActive01_**

 **Response generated.**

 **Simulating prepared response as per anonymity protocol!**  
 **Stop simulating?**

 **[STOP/Y]**

All three of us jerked up… Wait, this doesn't sound good at all. "What now?" Taylor groaned.

Lisa's eyes widened "Shiiit!"

"What?" My voice was devoid of panic, as were my emotions, but I could tell without Gamer's Mind I'd be shitting bricks right now. Things were just seeming under control, and isn't that a bad omen anytime when it comes to the Mindfuck Fairy…

Lisa checked her phone again, she was looking decidedly green, "She's coming over here."

"How long?" Asked Taylor.

"Don't know yet, her vector isn't stable, but I can tell by the fact that it started changing."

"How? It shouldn't be able to sense us!" I didn't want to believe now is when the Anonymity Protocols would choose to quietly fail.

Lisa shook her head, "She figured her main objective just went bust. She started tracking the ripples, she can't trace them back to specifically us, but simple backtracking of information is easy enough to lead to Brockton Bay, to her, it's ripples without an epicenter, she's probably coming over to see if she can narrow it down by shaking things up… Or that's what my power says the most probable motivation is, with Ziz, nothing is certain."

I sighed, "Well then, I'm cloneporting Danny and Dada to India for an indefinite vacation. They're the most unshielded info-leaks as of now, I don't really know what the Plot Armor thing does to them being scanned..."

Taylor nodded grimly, "Yeah, we should go to the PRT HQ, that's the staging area for the Bay. Also, Lisa, Dragon will figure the new vector out even if you don't tell her, right?"

Lisa shrugged, "Yeah, our warning right now would give Dragon about a couple minutes of head start. But I hear you, it's not worth giving an Endbringer any more clues about us." She turned to me, "Do send a clone to the Alley a block southwest of the PRT parking lot, Best to make a walking entrance than appearing via jazzy effects, tensions will be running high."

I nodded, "On it." I went around, locking the apartment up, both Lisa and Taylor stuck to their screens. It was mostly busy work, I could have pretty much stood where I was and done things telekinetically, but I just wanted to waste some time.

No sooner than I was done and heading back to the girls, the sirens started wailing.

"Welp, that's our cue." Taylor quipped as she and Lisa both held their hands out for cloneportation. I grabbed them and they vanished in blue flashes.


	56. Angry Bird 8-2

**Angry Bird 8.2**  
 _February 23, 2011, Lisa's Apartment - Brockton Bay, 11:48 PM_

"This way please." The PRT troopers who were escorting us were extremely professional. I could tell from their Observe results that they were hardcore, no-nonsense, career soldiers. They wouldn't bat an eyelid even if they were told that they were going to be quarantined today, and they were aware of the possibility. I gave them a nod out of respect as they left us in a large underground hall, which, by the looks of some of the equipment moved off to one side, was some sort of a training and testing facility, which made sense since The Rig wouldn't be able to provide this volume of naturally shielded space. There were troopers all around, setting up cordons and signboards, preparing the staging area.

"Wow, you guys are early!" Velocity, who jovially greeted us, arriving in a fast forward walk, unlike before, our enhanced perceptions didn't see him as just a blur. Then he stilled, whipped out a tablet, and paled, "You're not early, she's coming here." Swarm gave him a nod, Taylor had already found somewhere else to go, if it was our city then she didn't need her body to be outed.

Velocity continued in a much less jovial tone, "Okay then, thanks for coming, please wait in that area, the briefing will start soon." He pointed at an area marked off as 'First Time Defenders'. As we walked over, troopers escorted in more of our local capes, Velocity continued his zippy host act. We were soon joined by the Undersiders and the Travellers, then New Wave arrived, Laserdream and Glory Girl headed for our group while the others, who were apparently not first timers, went to stand in other designated areas.

A big white marked-out circle started flashing lights, then the teleporting capes started to arrive, the hall filled up pretty fast, the majority of us first timers. There were a spread of levels across the assembled capes, the lowest being Level 12 (a thinker whose power was to precisely know where anything in his LoS was) and the highest were quite a few capes who were Level ?. Observe gained quite a few levels as I spammed it on everyone. I'd read the infodumps later.

Soon the ceiling opened up a slice, the sliver of clear black night sky was broken by coloured streaks as the Triumvirate floated down with a gaggle of others, their own teams, I presumed. For the first time since Noelle's core I saw ? levels, on all three of them. 'Holy fucking cow! This changes things!' Lisa's message echoed in my head, surprise and excitement and a tinge of caution radiating from it. Wow, the last I'd felt her emote this intensely was when… Ahem, uh, never mind. It's annoying how Gamer's Mind makes me slightly loopy in non-combat scenarios, I eased up a bit on it.

Worry, trepidation, anxiety, I felt all of them, the Horror Fairy was coming here after all.

Loopy or not, I would still thank Gamer's Mind, feeling these full blast would definitely turn me into a gibbering wreck. Then I remembered Lisa's message and turned to look at her, she gave me her patented I-got-all-dem-secrets smirk number 4, shook her head and said, "It can wait."

Normally I'd poke her relentlessly but for the moment I shrugged and let it go as I saw Legend approaching me… "Hello, Swarm." Correction, not me, he stopped in front of Swarm and gave her a nod in the same regal manner that Swarm herself does, frickin' high charisma shenanigans. "I hear that you can provide some special contributions? Care to elaborate?" Huh, Taylor must've been talking to Dragon from wherever she was.

Swarm nodded back, "Essentially, I simply have battlefield awareness and signalling at a level of every insect in the city, all Three Quadrillion plus change." I would have chastised her for laying down her cards like this - were this not an endbringer situation.

Legend was busy proving he could even make gaping like a fish look graceful, he took about ten seconds to recover, "I see, so what can we do with that?" Swarm just said, "I have already guided more than 95% of the population either to shelters or out of city limits. Given a space with a giant digital projector and a high resolution camera, I can share a large amount of Dragon's logistic communication burden. The most conveniently placed facilities for that are one of The Rig's labs, one TV station and two conference halls spread across the city." Legend looked slightly skeptical, "Can you show me what you mean?"

Immediately a marquee of hovering firefly arrows formed and pointed from Legend to the exit in the ceiling and out, Legend vanished in a streak of light along that path, too fast for any of us to track. Swarm's body also broke apart and dissipated into nooks and crannies, I spotted a line of ants crawling into the armbands heaped up on one of the tables to the side.

Legend flew back in and spoke up in calm voice that carried surprisingly well, "Fellow parahumans, we don't have much time. Thankfully the city is mostly evacuated, If there's any advice that I could give you, it would be firstly to monitor your armbands and keep your exposure to the scream as less as possible. Secondly, the best attacks are ones which do not depend on subterfuge. And finally, don't second guess yourself, the Simurgh probably knows and plans against what you are thinking, and that makes no difference. Do what you can. Our goal is to make her leave within 27 minutes to stop Brockton Bay from becoming another quarantine zone. Best of luck." That was short and informative, I'd heard he did more elaborate speeches when they had more time.

Armbands were being given out, I took and strapped on mine without complaint, not like the bomb in it could do me any real damage from the scans that I saw. The troops also gave us first timers some extra pamphlets with clear instructions in block print, basic stuff about the nature of the scream and quarantine protocols and whatnot, then they told us to join up with the others. Lisa left for the area marked "Thinkers" while messaging me with an arrival countdown, which was at 2m:52s and counting, I could sense her tension, she knew we wouldn't die but this was her home city, she wanted to save as much as she could, a sentiment echoed by Taylor.

Alexandria started to rise up, "Stay within the lines of your group, a teleporter will come and transport you to staging areas relevant to your classification. If some of you find yourself completely away from the action, don't fret, you will receive updates and be ready to be called upon the moment we think your powers could be of help." That was obvious, a number of capes among us couldn't meaningfully contribute to a Simurgh defense in any way, better to have them out of potential quarantine zones.

Teleporters started popping in and taking people away in singles and clumps.

My armband chimed with Dragon's voice, "Maker, can you tell us about your teleportation?"

I chose to lay my cards down too, "Of course, people within fifty feet of me, time varies with distance, but anywhere in the city in less than a minute." My lvl 43 flying skill, plus the 5 spare bodies I had dispersed among the city could easily make those times.

"Huh, can you demonstrate by moving the healer contingent to the foyer of St. Clement Medical Centre down south? Do you need coordinates or instructions?"

I shook my head, "No. I know where that is." I looked at the healer area, among the 8 or so capes there the only known faces were Gregor the snail, Panacea, Othala and Victor. Oh well, more data for me, I yelled at them, "Brace for teleport!" Then scanned, biomassed and inventoried the folks standing there, inventoried the armband, and vanished into an ID leaving a small hole. Said hole I immediately closed when I saw Alexandria looking directly at the hole/me with narrowed eyes.

Geez, fine, meanwhile I had swapped primary to the body which had already run very close to the destination hospital, entered an ID, and reached the foyer in question. Medical and PRT staff were running around, and there was a neatly marked teleport zone. I equipped the armband and regurgitated my charges there. That was 9 seconds total, fast enough I'd say.

"That was impressive, are you good to do a few more?" Dragon's voice chimed through the armband. The couple minutes were spent placing certain sets of capes and troopers at strategic locations according to Dragon and Taylor's combined plans. Within a few minutes, Taylor's message came through:

 _"She's here, near the trainyards, people can hear the scream"_


End file.
